


Kingdom of Lies

by Brownies96



Series: Series of Lies [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders Video Blogging RPF, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Actual Prince Roman Sanders, Boarding School AU, M/M, i love them, my boys - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:38:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 26,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brownies96/pseuds/Brownies96
Summary: After the events of Academy of Lies, Roman invited the others to visit his kingdom of Wondry. What is supposed to be a relaxing holiday to recover from what they endured in the past year soon proves itself to be just as dangerous, if not more so.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The characters you recognise belong to Thomas Sanders. I own Wondry and the characters that come with it.

Virgil did his best to stop shaking. But he knew that when every interaction with his mother had to be planned weeks in advance, it was hard to tell himself that the stakes were low.

 

He stared at the monitor of the sole computer, mounted on the back wall of the meeting room he’d booked. He was already logged into Skype, after getting Mr Sanders’ override so he could use the calling service, and was staring at his mother’s profile, waiting for the little green outline to fill and the call to come through.

 

The ringtone rang so suddenly that Virgil froze in place before remembering what was happening. He clicked the ‘answer call’ icon and his mom appeared on the screen.

 

“Hi Virgil,” She said, smiling slightly through the computer.

 

“Hi mom.” Virgil breathed deeply, he could do this. It would be fine. “So,” he began.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Well, um I’ve been invited to stay in Wondry over the Summer. And you aren’t coming home for Summer break I just thought maybe I could go?” Virgil couldn’t look at the monitor, it was too much. Naturally, after a second of not looking, he looked.

 

His mom’s lips were pursed, her brow furrowed in thought. “Who invited you to Wondry?” She asked.

 

Virgil gave a nervous chuckle, “Um . . . Roman,”

 

Her eyebrows shot up. “As in the Crown Prince?” Virgil winced, but he nodded. His mom hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose you would be safer there,” she said, making Virgil wince harder, he hated the thought of his dad living in their house, the address still on the internet for anyone who didn’t like that there was a woman Sergeant General of the US army. “And I could bring your father here,” she added, as if reading his mind, Virgil sighed with relief.

 

“I just have one question.” Virgil’s heart sank. “How do you know the Crown Prince of Wondry?”

 

Virgil considered lying, saying “Oh, he just happens to be my very attractive dorm-mate.” Or “Just a friend” but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Keeping up the lie was just going to make him more stressed, and if Roman was brave enough to own it to a kingdom who could take it seriously badly, then Virgil could do this. He breathed deeply again and met his mom’s eyes through the monitor.

 

“He’s my boyfriend.” Virgil spoke quickly, but his voice didn’t shake, keeping himself in check and continuing to breathe properly before he checked his mom’s face for her reaction. Her mouth was open, but her eyes hadn’t narrowed in mistrust or anger, so Virgil let some of the tension out of his shoulders.

 

After a pregnant pause, she found her voice, “Virgil, I’m happy for you but,” Oh no, there came the but, those were never good. “He isn’t pressuring you into going, is he? You know you don’t have to go?”

 

Virgil almost laughed, “I know, mom. He keeps checking on me, making sure I really want to go and all that.”

 

“OK, and he isn’t pressuring you into anything else?”

 

“Oh God No!” Virgil cut his mom off from saying any more, “I’m going to have a separate room in the palace and everything. Really, you don’t have to worry about that.” Virgil seriously considered trying to melt through the floor. His mom hadn’t embarrassed him this much since ‘the talk’ when he was 13.

 

“OK, Virgil, don’t combust.” She laughed, and Virgil smiled, he hadn’t heard her laugh for ages. “Of course you can go, but promise me you’ll call.”

 

“I promise,” Virgil said.

 

“And don’t think you’ve gotten out of telling me all about you dating. I don’t care if he’s a prince, if he hurts you at all, I can and will start a war over you.” She was fierce and caring and Virgil wondered how he could possibly be related to someone so amazing.

 

“Mom no,” Virgil covered his face with his hands.

 

“Fine, fine. I’ll talk to you later, bye Virgil. I love you.”

 

“Love you too, mom. Bye.” The call ended, and the window closed.

 

Virgil sat back in his chair, he didn’t want to think too hard, but he couldn’t help it. He and his mom hadn’t been super close or touchy-feely for most of Virgil’s life, but after the whole situation with Mr Mendax, his mom had been making a huge effort to talk to him more. And it was nice. Virgil now knew which parent he’d inherited his snark from. He’d always known his mom was competent and badass, but after they’d talked, he’d realised how much she loved him. He’d always known she did intellectually. But after seeing her move mountains to make sure Mr Mendax got in major trouble, at least on the American side of things, and once he’d seen the court proceedings from the sentencing of those guys who attacked him, he knew it emotionally as well.

 

Virgil logged out of the computer and turned the lights off before leaving the room. He shouldn’t have been surprised to find Roman waiting for him outside, sitting with his back to the door, so he fell inwards onto Virgil’s foot.

 

“Did she say yes?” He asked, not even bothering to get up.

 

“She did.” Virgil said, mostly for the enjoyment of watching Roman trying to scramble up from his weird position in order to hug him.

 

“That’s wonderful! We are going to have a wonderful time!”

 

“Did Patton and Logan get permission?” Virgil really hoped they did. He knew he shouldn’t be worried, but he hoped that if Patton and Logan came along then he’d have fewer opportunities to screw up and have Roman see what a huge mistake he was making by dating him.

 

“They did!” Roman’s tone changed, “And, um, did you tell her . . . “

 

“I did,” Virgil said, leaning into Roman’s embrace.

 

“And?” Roman asked.

 

“You were right. She was totally cool with it.” Virgil frowned, “Except for the part where I thought she was gonna give me ‘the talk’ again.” Roman laughed at that and Virgil found himself laughing too. He pushed his insecurities to the back of his mind and let himself enjoy this rare moment of peace, soon to be disrupted by frantic packing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh BTW, Patton will be using a wheelchair for just about all of this fic. When he was cut int he neck in Academy of Lies, his nerves were damaged, and while he can walk short distances, it isn't easy for him. His injury is based of a real one.

Between Logan and Virgil, they made it to the airfield on time. Roman and Patton were no help whatsoever. Despite only needing to go about two hundred yards across the grounds of Foster Academy, Roman and Patton had stopped at every possible opportunity, and only Logan’s sense in accounting for their erratic behaviour in his schedule, combined with Virgil’s insistence that they get a move on already, meant they made it in time.

 

Naturally, as the only passengers due to board the plane, and the fact that it literally belonged to Roman’s family, meant the pilots would have waited for them, but it was still impolite not to abide by the one thing they had been asked to do.

 

Virgil was taken aback when someone wearing a neat black and gold uniform took his suitcase from him and motioned that Virgil go up the stairs. He’d caught plenty of planes over the course of his life, but they had usually involved brusque TSA agents and dropping his bag off on a carousel or been on military planes where everything had to fit into a pack that you kept on you.

 

Roman bounded up the stairs ahead of him and turned left into the cockpit.

 

“Roane!” Roman said with a smile, “If I’d known you were going to be flying us I would have dressed better.”

 

“Sure you would have,” Roane’s voice had a lilt to it that Virgil could sometimes hear in Roman, but hers was much more pronounced. “Your cousin insisted dad and I fly you home.”

 

“I’m glad Caila cares, but she worries too much. And speaking of worry, this is Virgil.” Roman pulled Virgil by his arm into the cockpit.

 

“Hi,” Virgil waved awkwardly.

 

“So, this is Virgil, he saved you from Richard Anwir?”

 

“Patton and Logan helped, and Roman saved himself a lot too.” Virgil said.

 

“And he’s modest too!” Roane smiled at Virgil, “Don’t worry, you’re going to love Wondry, if nothing else it’s the most beautiful country in the world, it’s like living in a fairytale.”

 

“I can’t imagine Roman growing up anywhere that wasn’t like that.” Virgil tried for a joke and was rewarded by a chuckle from Roane.

“If you’re going to make fun of me I’ll go pick a seat,” Roman feigned hurt but smiled to remind Virgil that he wasn’t actually upset.

 

“I should go with him, but it was nice meeting you, Roane.”

 

“Nice meeting you too, Virgil.”

 

Virgil walked back to the stairs and saw Roman lifting Patton up them, Logan following behind him. Patton was giggling furiously as Roman carried him up the steps princess-style.

 

“Should I be jealous?” Virgil asked, grinning.

 

“Aw Virge, there’s no need to be, I could probably carry both of you if you like.” Roman batted his eyelashes.

 

“Not on stairs you won’t,” Virgil said, “and don’t be ridiculous.”

 

“You’d sooner get him to stop breathing,” Logan said from behind them.

 

“What, is it ‘attack Roman day’ or something? Why am I inviting you to my kingdom again?” Roman put Patton down sat down dramatically in one of the plush leather seats.

 

“Because you love us,” Patton said from his seat, “and we love you!”

 

“Uh Patton, that’s kinda gay.” Virgil snarked.

 

“Gee I wonder why that would be,” Logan quipped back.

 

They sat and did their seatbelts up as Roane’s lilting voice announced that they should over the loudspeaker. Virgil looked at the ceiling and noticed that, along with lights there were sigils which looked like they had been gilded on.

 

“Roman?” Virgil tapped Roman’s leg gently and pointed up. “Are those all the crests of the families of Wondry?” Roman looked up with him.

 

“They are,” Roman said, “I suppose you recognised mine from when you made my suit.” Virgil nodded. Roman pointed to the one furthest on the left. “The one that looks like stained glass is the Luciano family from the Riverlands, a lot of Romans settled there when their empire was big. Back when Wondry was just a city-state on the coast.

The one under it is Abhhainn, Luciano and Abhhainn are responsible for most of the agriculture in Wondry and Abhhainn prizes itself on fruit growing.

 

Next to it is Talis or the royal sigil, it’s represented by the keep and is the symbol of the ruling family.

 

To its right is Airgead, or Argent depending on who you ask, they run the mountains with the silver mines. The family above and to the left of them is Mordha, or Or, where they mine gold, the Or family are called Mordha because it is a last name meaning royal because before Wondry was founded they were the rulers of the highlands.” Roman finished and Virgil looked at the symbols, there was still one Roman hadn’t explained, it was divided per pale with one side green and one side with the pattern that Virgil was pretty sure was called ermine, at the front of it was a yellow and green snake making a backwards ‘s’ shape. Patton noticed this too.

 

“What about that one?” Patton asked, pointing to it.

 

Roman swallowed and looked around at them, Virgil realised what he was going to say right before he said it. “That’s the crest of the house of Anwir.” He said, his voice tight.

 

“What are they responsible for?” Logan asked, apparently trying to salvage the conversation.

 

“Trade mostly, between the Riverlands and the Highlands, they maintain the road and stuff. Also, they raise livestock, but that’s not a major industry or anything.” Romans voice was several decibels softer than it had been when he was explaining the other houses.

 

“Their crest is new, though, the house of Anwir is actually relatively new with that last name, they used to be the house of Ceartas before the name got married away, it used to be a set of scales in gold over green. I had to take pretty extensive history classes on all the families, I can actually recite the histories of all of them back to the founding of Talis.” Roman laughed at his words, despite them not being especially funny. Virgil felt bad for him, and the others, this reminder of everything they’d rather forget about the past year, so Virgil decided to change the topic.

 

“How long ‘til we get there?” He asked.

 

“About 9 and a half hours,” said Patton, “Why? Are you plane sick?” Patton’s face crumpled slightly in concern.

 

“No, I’m fine,” Virgil waved him off, “I could sit in these seats all day.”

 

“Nothing but first class for you, baby!” Roman winked at him.

 

Only when he saw the tension leave Roman’s shoulders, and his smile become genuine, did Virgil finally let himself relax.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roro comes out so if that's an issue for you to read then um, sorry for the cliffhanger?

Virgil woke up on the plane to find himself being pinned down by a sleeping Roman. As he tried to disentangle himself he realised that he must have fallen asleep leaning on Roman and then Roman had fallen asleep cuddling him. In their sleep they must have instinctively reached out for one another, leaving Virgil almost completely trapped by the right side of Roman’s torso as well as Roman’s right arm and leg.

 

Virgil winced slightly as he felt discomfort in his ears. That must have been what had woken him up, he’d never been a great flyer no matter how many times he’d caught a plane. But he had learned how to deal with it. He reached for his bottle of water, but he couldn’t get to it without pushing Roman off him.

 

If you’d asked him before he found himself in a relationship he would have told you that he would never, ever have considered pushing the person he loved off him just to get to a drink of water, but now that he was actually in that position he knew he was going to push Roman off him. He was secure enough to know that Roman would forgive him and there would be other cuddling opportunities in the future, and that Roman wouldn’t be happy if Virgil let himself suffer just in the name of snuggling. Virgil wasn’t so secure that he didn’t have to tell himself this before he made his decision, but he came to the healthy conclusion, which was big for him.

 

Virgil reached around to Roman’s shoulder and gave a push. Roman mumbled something as he was thrust back into his seat. Virgil leant forward to get to his water bottle and he tried to drink it slowly, knowing that swallowing was the action that made the pain in his ears lessen. He grabbed some gum out of his backpack and chewed that too, that usually helped as well.

 

Beside him, Roman was mumbling a bit, his eyes stilling then opening just a crack.

 

“Morning,” Virgil said, offering Roman a small smile.

 

“I’m cold.” Roman complained, his voice soft with sleep.

 

“I’ll be right back,” Virgil rolled his eyes. Roman opened his eyes properly and saw what Virgil was doing.

 

“Your ears popping?” Roman forced himself to sound more awake.

 

“I’ll be fine,” Virgil said, waving off Roman’s concern.

 

By the time they’d landed it had been proven that Virgil most certainly was not fine. He was drinking Patton’s water, after completely depleting his own and had buried his head in Roman’s chest, gritting his teeth and trying to supress his small grunts of pain.

 

As soon as Roane and her dad had opened the door Virgil had sagged in relief in his chair. They waited in the cabin while Roane grabbed Patton’s wheelchair. Roman was still holding onto Virgil, a bit more tightly than usual.

 

“You OK?” Virgil asked.

 

“Yeah . . . I just. Now or never, right?” Roman said, his voice full of bluster. “Put your hood on.” Roman slowly pulled Virgil’s hood over his head. “There will be cameras, so do whatever you have to do to be comfortable,” He said.

 

At this Patton untied his hoodie from around his shoulders. It was a grey cat themed hoodie, complete with ears, paws, and a cat pouch. Logan had given it to Patton to celebrate Patton’s first steps after his injury. Patton pulled the hood over his head and gestured with his cat paws. It was so sweet even Virgil couldn’t find it in himself to cynically point out that that hoodie wasn’t exactly subtle. Though neither was his, ever since he’d finished his minor sewing project, he’d only taken his decorated hoodie off to wash it, if it was cold enough, he even wore it to bed.

 

They stepped off the plane and the number of people was so staggeringly huge Virgil considered running back into the plane and hiding under one of the seats until they all went away. But he kept moving forwards, focusing on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. He counted each step in his head: One, two, three.

 

By step 413 they stopped. Virgil looked up and saw the castle. What did Roman always call it? The Keep. With a capital K. The front three towers were visible, but Virgil was pretty sure there was one for each cardinal point, so one was hiding behind the centre front tower.

 

Virgil glanced around at the others. Logan and Patton were staring at the keep with the same wide-eyed expression Virgil had just wiped off his face. Roman met Virgil’s gaze.

 

“You got this,” Roman said, the corner of his mouth turning up, but not the way it usually did; this half-smile was open and vulnerable, and so far outside Roman’s usual sensational façade. “We got this.” Roman’s smile became fuller as he said this, and he looked around at all four of them. The group exchanged encouraging expressions then made their way across the drawbridge, into the Keep.

 

Roman could feel his heart hammering in his chest: He was home. His two worlds were colliding, and it would either be the most spectacular thing or the most catastrophic.

 

He walked past the hangers-on that always seemed to be drifting around the edges of court life, minor nobles or people with just enough money to come to court, in the hopes of someone with more power or money or whatever taking a liking to them and financing the rest of their life. He made it through the councillors, the people who had always taken it upon themselves to be every bit and corrective and punishing as parents, with none of the warmth and love. It was worth walking past all these people because at the end of the path before them were his parents. King Cray stood up from his throne as they approached, he extended a hand to Queen Ethne and she rose to greet her son.

 

Roman bowed and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Virgil and Logan bow as well. There was an awkward moment where Patton was clearly unsure of what he was supposed to do, but he bent his head so it rested on his knees. Wondry, as well as the rest of the world, really needed to work wheelchairs into their weird protocol.

 

“Rise, Prince Roman,” King Cray extended a hand to his son and Roman took it, accepting his father’s warm embrace. After greeting his father, he moved on to his mother, they embraced closely and Roman was able to whisper into his mother’s ear.

 

“Can I have a more private audience tonight, my lady mother?” He asked.

 

“You can. We will dine in my chambers tonight.”

 

Darn, dining wasn’t ideal, Roman would have to wait until the end of the meal before enacting his plan, but he nodded and stepped back.

 

His friends were dismissed, and they made their way to Roman’s wing. Roman gave Patton and Logan separate but adjoining rooms, knowing full well that only one of those rooms would be used. He was grateful that his parents had installed elevators in the Keep and that there was one relatively close to his apartments. He gave Virgil the room closest to his, he sort of hoped that he and Virgil might share Roman’s room, even if it was just to cuddle, but he didn’t know how to ask Virgil and he wasn’t sure his ego was up to a refusal, so he decided it was best not to ask, at least not yet.

 

He helped his friends unpack until a messenger in red and gold livery came to summon him to his mother’s chamber for dinner. He asked the messenger to organise for food to be sent to his friends from the kitchens before entering his mother’s receiving chamber.

 

“Ah, Roman, you’re here. Please, sit.” Queen Ethne gestured to the seat before her. King Cray was already seated on her left.

 

Over dinner they talked about his grades (good, though Logan’s were better), how he felt about being home (Oh it’s great, no negative feeling here, he lied), and what his plans for the year ahead were (plans? In this economy? Roman’s parents hadn’t appreciated the meme reference).

 

Once they had finished, Roman mustered the courage to speak. It was harder than he’d expected. Probably because he’d been sitting on this secret for so long. What had he said to Virgil on the plane earlier? Now or Never. Well it was going to be now.

 

“My lord father, my lady mother, I- “He paused, how was he going to say this. “You know my friend Virgil who I brought with me here?” He asked.

 

“The sergeant-general’s son?” His mother asked.

 

“Yeah,” Roman said, too nervous to worry about his Americanised speech, “Well, he isn’t actually my friend per se, he’s my boyfriend.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for homophobia and transphobia being mentioned.
> 
> *Deceit Voice* I'm totally not projecting my own anger at the homophobia in the world in this story.

Virgil had eaten with Logan and Patton. He was doing his best not to feel like a third wheel, but it was hard. All he could think about was Roman being interrogated by his parents. Virgil wanted to be a supportive boyfriend, he really did, but he was fighting himself over whether or not to wait for Roman outside his mothers’ apartments. Three things made up his mind, the first was the memory of Roman waiting for him after he had told his mother, then there were Patton and Logan who were literally cuddling right in front of him, and finally there was Riley. They’d come in while Virgil, Patton, and Logan were eating and introduced themselves as the head of Roman’s, complete with pointing out that they used they/them pronouns and anyone who dared to misgender them would face the wrath of Riley. Virgil was simultaneously scared of and impressed by them.

 

Virgil stepped outside. “Hey Riley,” He said, as they were standing right outside the door.

 

“Yes?” Riley asked, in their accent.

 

“Can you show me where Roman is?” Virgil asked, only elaboration when Riley’s expression changed to a concerned one. “I don’t want to interrupt or anything, I just want to be there when Roman leaves.” He said.

 

“I suppose it would be alright, as long as you don’t enter the Queen’s actual rooms. If you wait outside, everything should be fine.”

 

Virgil nodded in response and Virgil followed Riley to the Queen’s apartments. He tried to keep track of where they were going but it was proving to be very difficult as he tried to find landmarks to guide his way. Still, he recognised the crest of Wondry, elaborately carved into the door that Riley told him to wait outside.

 

It was at this point that Virgil made the stupid decision to listen to the doubts that were welling up inside him. He knew that relationships only ended in two ways, lasting forever or a breakup, and each prospect was equally horrifying to him. If they broke up he would be without Roman, without his steadying presence, without the push to actually dare to dream. But if they stayed together there was the fear of what their future together would hold. Would Virgil and Roman live here in the Keep? Would Virgil be Queen? No, that wasn’t right. Would Virgil be prince consort? He wasn’t sure. And there was no way to be sure until it actually happened. That alone was scary enough.

 

He breathed through his panic until the doors creaked open to reveal Roman, his face pinched with stress, but otherwise, somehow even more beautiful than Virgil remembered.

 

“You came out here to wait for me?” Roman asked, his eyes wide.

 

“Of course I did,” Virgil said. He would have added ‘you idiot’ to the end of that statement but he was afraid someone would overhear him insulting the Prince.

 

“Well . . .” Roman paused and took Virgil’s hand, “thank you.”

 

“You did the same for me,” Virgil said, trying to keep his usual cynicism in his voice. “How did it go, anyway?”

 

Roman pursed his lips. “I’m not entirely sure,” he said, “they didn’t have too much faith in my ideas for adopting a child or anything. But I made it clear that they will never get me to marry a woman. Or anyone else, as long as you’re around.” Roman smiled and squeezed Virgil’s hand.

 

Virgil gulped slightly. That was a lot of pressure to put on two eighteen-year-olds. But he supposed that Roman, now that he was legally an adult in Wondry and most of the world, would have been pushed into wannabe-romantic situations with people his parents and the council wanted him to marry, had Roman not spoken up now.

 

Virgil considered saying nothing, after all, he understood why Roman was doing what he did, but Roman, Patton, and Logan were always emphasising how important communication was.

 

“Ro,” Virgil began, “While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t exactly plan on getting hitched before I’ve even been to college.” Virgil tried to keep the conversation light by employing his trademark snark.

 

“Aww, my dark and stormy knight, did I scare you?” It was a testament to how well Roman knew Virgil that he kept their teasing tone, despite how serious they both were. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to spring a proposal on you. For one thing, you’d freak out, and for another you’re right, we are far too young.” Roman smiled calmly at Virgil.

 

“Though I was thinking while I spoke to my parents and I did realise that I may have a slight problem, that you could help me with – but you don’t have to,” Roman added quickly.

Now Virgil was suspicious. “What is it?” He asked slowly.

 

“Well, my parents are going to tell the council that I’m gay tomorrow, and I’m a bit worried that the council are going to try and hush it up,” Roman said.

 

“Isn’t that what you were doing until now?” Virgil pointed out.

 

“But that was on my terms,” Roman gesticulated, “I’m not going to let them shove me right back into the closet that I just escaped!”

 

Virgil snorted at Roman’s imagery, but he conceded that Roman had a good point. “So what do you wanna do?” Virgil asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

 

“I’m willing to give the council tomorrow to be cool about it without me forcing their hand. Knowing them, they’ll do nothing and every time I ask them they’ll give me vague disappointment and no news. But I like to pretend that they might make the right choice and talk to me about it. If not, I’m going to go public the only way a true millennial knows how!”

 

“Oh God,” Virgil groaned.

 

“Well, now that we aren’t stuck at school I actually have access to my social media. It’s been great. Selfies are so much fun.”

 

Virgil rolled his eyes at this. Then he spoke up again, trying to stop the swirling in his stomach. “You want me to be involved in this, don’t you? You know I don’t exactly have the best relationship with the nice people of the internet?” Virgil could feel himself shrinking away from Roman, but he forced himself to stay and continue the conversation.

 

“Not if you don’t want to!” Roman said quickly. “I just thought maybe I could include my boyfriend in my coming out post. You know, maybe take a picture of us kissing or something?”

 

“That sounds a bit gross.” Virgil said.

 

“Not like that! Like a Disney kiss, it wouldn’t be with tongue or anything.” Roman looked affronted.

 

Virgil’s mind was racing, he couldn’t quite pin down one thought as his fears kept pelting him at full speed.

 

“Love?” Roman asked quietly, “What are you afraid of? Talk to me and we can find ways around it or I’ll come up with another idea.”

 

Virgil nodded and took a deep, steadying breath. “What if the people from before find it? What if my mom finds it and gets mad at me for putting myself in danger like that? What if the council get mad at you and decide I ‘turned you gay’ and that I have to be punished for it? What if-“

 

“Steady now Virgil, one problem at a time.” Roman stopped him. “For the first question, the people who attacked you have been imprisoned, and the idiots who thought it was cool to send you threats would be threatening someone with connections to an entire national guard, so only the very stupid would dare attempt it. Secondly, you could always tell your mother in advance, so you can get her reaction before you make a decision, but you are an adult and our sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. And thirdly, I’d like to see them try: Not only would it ruin our diplomatic relationship with the US, but I will be king one day, so they really can’t afford to piss me off that much.” Roman put a comforting arm around Virgil as he spoke.

 

“Oh!” Roman was struck by an idea. “You could wear your hood, so your identity isn’t compromised but it is known that I have a boyfriend. How very comic book!”

 

Virgil grinned as he leant his head against Roman’s shoulder. Who else would come up with creative solutions to every terrifying question his brain posed?

 

“OK,” Virgil said, “I’ll do it.

 

The next afternoon, Patton, Logan, and Virgil waited outside the council chamber with their hearts hammering in their chests as Roman was called in to speak with the council. Every creak or knock made Virgil jump, so Patton was hugging him awkwardly from his wheelchair in an attempt to keep him grounded. After it had become apparent that Roman would be in there for a while, Logan had pulled out the book he was reading and was reading it aloud to them from the beginning, sitting himself in Patton’s lap. Between Logan and Patton, Virgil managed to keep himself from freaking out too much.

 

Logan was on chapter nine when Roman left the room, his face set in a snarl. “I am so sick of their bullshit!” He exclaimed, “’It’s all, its fine that you’re gay, Roman, but you’re still going to have to marry a woman for the sake of the lineage, Roman’ Have they never heard of trans people? Or adoption? I am so done with them!”

 

Virgil stood up, filled with anger at the council. Only his knowledge of Roman’s plan from earlier stopped him from storming into the council and ripping them a new one.

 

“Not after the entire internet knows,” Virgil said, his voice low and sinister. “C’mon babe, let’s take a politically significant and cute selfie!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the consequences anyone was expecting. This chapter is so fluffy

As soon as Roman had hit ‘tweet’, Virgil felt his stomach lurch. He looked at the photo again, double checking that he wasn’t recognisable from the photo. Roman had strategically placed a hand on his cheek and he had a hood on, all that combined with the fact that a significant portion of his face was blocked out by Roman’s face, Virgil was able to calm himself, at least a little.

 

“OK?” Roman asked, tilting Virgil’s chin up with his hand.

 

“Yeah,” Virgil muttered, seriously considering kissing Roman again.

 

“And now we wait,” Roman sighed dramatically.

 

“That was the nature of your plan.” Logan agreed.

 

The waiting began. They went back to Roman’s quarters and Logan continued to read his book aloud to the others. Roman had already read it apparently, as every now and then he would say a piece of dialogue in a character voice just as Logan got to it. Patton had insisted that they build a pillow fort, so all four of them had gotten the blankets of their beds and covered the ground with pillows. Virgil couldn’t help but laugh, there was something truly hilarious about building a pillow fort in an actual palace.

 

Dinner came, and Riley brought them all food.

 

“I figured you might not feel welcome in the great hall tonight,” they said.

 

“How is it?” Roman asked.

 

“Hard to say, at this point,” Riley answered thoughtfully, “Abhhainn and Anwir seen pissed, but I’d say you should be safe with Luciano, Or, or Argent. Not that they’ll do anything, but they’d probably take your side if it came to anything.”

 

“Thanks, Riley.” Roman smiled weakly.

 

They were about halfway through their delicious beef stew when two people came storming into Roman’s room. Virgil recognised Roane from their flight over, but he didn’t know the person beside her.

 

“Caila?” Roman said in surprise, “Roane? What’s up?”

 

Caila opened her mouth and then snapped it shut, as if she’s suddenly second-guessed what she was going to say. Roane reached forward and gently took her hand. They look at each other for a moment, then Roane spoke.

 

“You didn’t tell us you were gay.” Roane said firmly.

 

“In the interest of honesty, coming out hasn’t been a good time. I completely understand why I was putting it off.” Roman said airily, disguising the searching looks he was giving them.

 

“It would have been nice to know,” Caila’s voice was barely above a whisper. “that we weren’t the only ones.”

 

Roman stared at them, they were still holding hands and the romance between them was obvious even to Logan who was pretty oblivious when it came to romance and had only known the girls for five minutes.

 

Roman stared at them in shock for a second, but only for a second, before bounding over and pulling Caila into a tight embrace. He looked around the room and decided to start making introductions.

 

“Everyone, this is my cousin Caila Mordha, heiress of Or. She’s the best. Caila, these are my friends Patton and Logan, and this is my boyfriend, Virgil.”

 

Virgil couldn’t hide the pleased flush that appeared on his cheeks after Roman called him his boyfriend.

 

Caila gave a small wave and looked down. Virgil recognised her body language, the way she hid behind Roane or Roman. Virgil considered saying something, but thought the better of it, no need to embarrass Caila. But it did make Virgil think about the twitter post. He hadn’t checked twitter in a long time, not since he’d deleted his account. Roman was easy enough to find, Virgil was horrified to see that Roman’s post was trending worldwide.

 

“Princey! Get over here and look at this.” Virgil called Roman over and Caila and Roane smirked at the nickname.

 

“Oh. My. Goodness!” Roman exclaimed. “Look at this!” He began to scroll through the retweets and replies. “This person did art of the photo using the rainbow! Aw, that one said this post gave them the courage to come out! Look, someone in Australia just woke up to this! Virgil, this is incredible.”

 

Sometimes Virgil couldn’t believe Roman. “But what about this,” Virgil pointed to a tweet by fox news, the thread of comments were very unkind.

 

“I was expecting that,” Roman said, waving Virgil’s concerns away, “I’m not a complete idiot, I knew what I was getting myself into. But I wasn’t expecting such a strong outcry of support, and from people all over the world! These people think I’m a hero of the queer community, even though I’ve been terrified the whole time.” Roman said that last sentence quietly, leaning into Virgil as he scrolled through the tweets, tears glistening in his eyes.

 

“Well, queer community notwithstanding,” Virgil whispered into Roman’s hair, “You’re definitely my hero.”

 

When Roman reached up to Virgil, their kiss was slightly salty due to the fact that Roman was crying. Virgil knew that Roman would insist they were happy tears, but Virgil suspected they were also just relief that this whole coming out ordeal was over.

 

After everyone had finished dinner and gone to bed Virgil lay awake, staring at his ceiling. Despite it being June, his rooms felt unbearably cold and try as he might, Virgil couldn’t sleep. He was long since tired of staring at his ceiling, and only his anxiety was keeping him cemented to his bed.

 

He had three options, staying in bed and suffering, going to Patton and Logan, or going to Roman. The first option was the one he favoured the most, and if he didn’t know that the others would be disappointed in him for not looking after himself he wouldn’t even be having this debate. Logan and Patton had the advantage of being his pseudo-parents, but Virgil suspected he might see more than he ever wanted to if he knocked on their door. That left Roman, but Virgil was reluctant to go to Roman. This wasn’t him coming onto Roman, it was him seeking comfort, and he was terrified that Roman wouldn’t see it that way, and Virgil wasn’t even ready to have that conversation, let alone actually do anything. Back at school, when he’d told Roman about his sleepless nights, Roman had said Virgil could seek him out for comfort, but that had been at school. Virgil was working himself up into a panic.

 

But he was so done with panicking. He was sick of not just being able to go and do what he wanted because he was scared of other people. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his duvet off him and walked over to Roman’s room, doing his best to ignore the way his mind had gone into overdrive.

 

Roman’s soft breathing didn’t change as Virgil inched open the door. Roman was splayed out across the bed, the covers were twisted around his midsection, leaving his bare chest uncovered. Virgil felt his mouth go dry and had to sternly remind himself that he was not there to do the do.

 

He tapped Roman’s shoulder gently and Roman awoke with a sleepy “Huh?”

 

“Sorry,” Virgil said immediately, his fears kicking back in full force, “I just, I . . . uh couldn’t sleep. Sorry. We probably should have talked about this first.”

 

“Probably,” Roman agreed sleepily, “But c’mere anyway, you look cold.” Roman made a valiant attempt at disentangling the sheets from around him. It took a while, but once he was done he patted the bed next to him and Virgil found himself curling up against Roman’s chest, surprised at how immediately he became sleepy. He was still stressed: What if he snored? What if he kicked Roman in his sleep? But despite himself, he felt safe in Roman’s arms. Lulled by the gentle sound of Roman’s breathing, Virgil finally allowed sleep to claim him.

 

By the morning, Roman’s tweet had gained even more traction online. People had unofficially declared Roman and his mystery boyfriend ‘the cutest couple ever’ and Virgil, waking up in Roman’s warm embrace, couldn’t help but agree.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! You are all so nice!! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

There were several reasons that the four boys had remained in the Keep thus far on their trip to Wondry, despite Roman’s many promises to show them around. The first was that with Roman’s coming out drama, none of them had had the energy to do much other than try to comfort one another in the only way other people completely fed up with homophobia can. Patton had insisted on their building a pillow fort in Roman’s room and watching their way through Roman’s Disney collection. The next was that much of Wondry was built on cobbled streets and hidden down narrow alleyways. As is the nature of places that did most of their urban growth before the invention of the car, and as Patton needed to use a wheelchair to get around there was no way he was going to be able to see any of that. Patton had tried to tell them that he didn’t mind, the others were free to go exploring without him, but they knew Patton too well to ignore the pained look in his eye.

 

Never one to back down from a challenge, Roman, Caila, Roane, and Riley had sat themselves down over a large table in Roman’s rooms that was supposed to be used for dining. They had put together a path that should be accessible as long as Logan was able to come through with his modifications to a spare wheelchair, making it suitable for rough terrain. Logan had grumbled about how he didn’t like his work being rushed, but that he would do it for Patton, and had spent the last 30 hours or so locked in a spare suite surrounded by tools and materials that Roman couldn’t have named if his life had depended on it.

 

Patton wheeled into the room late that night, he parked next to Roman and smiled. Roman put an arm around him and watched as the door was pushed further open to reveal Virgil standing with a platter of hot chocolates, he could smell the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla under the rich scent of the chocolate, recognising Patton’s recipe.

 

The hot chocolate made them all sleepy, so they ran over the plan one last time before heading off to bed.

 

Roman raised his eyes in question, trying to ask ‘Are you coming to my room?’ with only his eyes, but Virgil just looked at him weirdly, so he asked aloud. Virgil nodded and followed Roman to his room, so it seemed to have worked. For the last three days, Roman had become accustomed to being awoken at some indecent hour by Virgil. Although everything had been fine, Roman knew they really needed to talk about it.

 

“So . . .” Roman began, not really sure where to start, but Virgil was shrinking before his eyes, his face becoming guarded. “Can I ask you why you keep coming to my room?” Virgil’s face tensed and Roman guessed that his brain was telling him that Roman didn’t want him there. “I don’t mind. In fact, I’d say its encouraged. I just want to understand.”

 

Virgil relaxed slightly, “I just, I dunno, I actually sleep in your room. And its-,” Virgil blushed, “nice."

 

“I think it’s nice too,” Roman smiled at Virgil, taking his hand. “But I just want to check that its not a, um,” Roman paused awkwardly, “We don’t have to have ‘the talk’ do we?”

 

“Not yet,” Virgil huffed, really appreciating how easy Roman was making this for him. “But I’ll keep you posted.”

 

“Thanks,” Roman said, there was a thoughtful pause before he spoke again. “Is kissing on my bed OK?”

 

“We’ve literally made out in a hospital bed,” Virgil smirked. “Yeah, kissing is OK, other stuff’s a no unless I say otherwise . . . or you say otherwise.” Virgil added.

 

“Cool.” Roman said, opening the door to his bedroom.

 

The next day Roman woke up alert and buzzing with excitement, much to Virgil’s chagrin.

 

“Come on, my chemically imbalanced romance! Today I show you my kingdom! Everything the light touches . . .”

 

“At seven in the morning?” Virgil groaned, trying to pull the covers over his face.

 

Roman rolled his eyes and began to sing, “I can show you the world . . .”

 

Virgil accepted that there was no getting out of this and made his way to the en suite.

 

Roman was still singing when they met outside his rooms, and continued to sing all the way out of the keep. He was dressed in a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans, which was more formal that his outfits at school had been, but still not what Virgil expected a prince to wear while his subjects could see him. Virgil was also cursing the manufacturer of the jeans as it should be illegal to draw so much attention to Roman’s ass.

 

They headed South towards the coast where Roman showed them the cliffs made of quartzite, streaked with colours and sparkling in the sunlight. The moved around to the West, where Riley pointed out the beautiful forest that was ethereal in how untouched it was. It looked like something out of a faerie tale, but the old kind, the one where the fae weren’t so kind.

 

“Patton, are you alright?” Asked Logan from behind the modified wheelchair, he was pushing it as he had not had time to make it motorised.

 

“I’m fine, Lo,” Patton said cheerily, “But if your arms are getting tired I’m sure I could manage some walking.”

 

“Falsehood.” Said Logan, “You have not yet tried walking on a surface this uneven and I am perfectly fine,” Logan smiled slightly, “besides, this way you can’t run away from me.”

 

“Aw! Lo! I would never run away from you!” Patton declared. Virgil mimed throwing up behind them.

 

“Oh! Look! It’s the old secret dungeon!” Roane pointed out in her delightful lilt, gesturing with the arm that wasn’t being hugged by Caila.

 

“The what now?” Virgil asked.

 

To everyone’s surprise, Caila spoke up, “Back in the middle ages, there was a secret dungeon out here, they kept it outside the city boundary because some people were too dangerous to keep in the keep,” she laughed a bit at the repeated words, “so they’d imprison them out here, since it was close enough that people from the palace could come and interrogate and sentence them without having to travel for days.”

 

Virgil glanced at the doorway, covered in moss and built into a boulder. Only the iron gate on the front of it indicated that humans had ever interfered with it. The stairs that were just visible beyond the door, seemed to be on a very steep incline. Virgil was grateful that they weren’t going to do down there.

 

They headed East through the city.

 

“Wait, stop here.” Roman gestured to a small bakery.

 

“You aren’t!” Patton gasped in delight.

 

“I am.” Roman confirmed. He turned to the others, “This is Patton’s favourite bakery. Ms Caoimh is an incredible cook, she’s never made anything I didn’t like.”

 

“And knowing Roman as a child that’s high praise,” Patton added.

 

Riley went in to order them some food and when they emerged the food they were met with exclamations from Virgil and Logan who had never eaten pastries so perfect.

 

The party continued further east to the beach. The water was far too cold to swim in but Virgil and Roman collected sea glass off the beach, giving each piece they found to Patton who directed Logan, Riley, Caila, and Roane to make a mural with them, which turned out to be a heart.

 

This, Roman thought, was why he had brought them to Wondry. He watched Virgil, Logan, and Patton smile and wonder at his beautiful home, and Roman couldn’t have been prouder of his home or happier for his friends. It made his heart ache pleasantly. And Caila had come so much further out of her shell, probably thanks to Roane, he was so happy his favourite cousin had found love. For the first time since they’d landed in Wondry, Roman remembered why he missed Wondry so much when he was away, and he was thrilled to see the others understanding his love for Wondry as well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is definitely homophobia in this chapter, but the assholes get owned, so that's nice.

They returned long after the sun had set, uncoordinated with exhaustion, and laughing at jokes that would never have been so funny if they weren’t all so tired. Riley pulled out a key and opened a gate on the South side of the Keep. The other six quietly made their way back up to their rooms, Caila and Roane waving as they departed for the Mordha family’s quarters.

 

Somehow their laziness had translated to mean that walking around to the elevator was too much trouble, so Patton was lifted out of his chair and piggy-backed up the stairs by Roman. Patton giggled uncontrollably and blew Logan kisses from atop Roman.

 

This was how they were found by someone at the entrance to Roman’s rooms. Roman stiffened immediately upon seeing her, nearly dropping Patton. Riley froze too, Virgil saw their eyes widen with shock.

 

“Jadis? What is the meaning of this?” Roman demanded, somehow managing to sound regal despite the fact he was giving a piggy-back.

 

Jadis stepped forward, revealing an imposing woman who Virgil estimated to be in her early thirties. She wore traditional summer dress, a long green gown with enamel broaches with her family crest pinning the straps to the bodice. Virgil had studied Wondry’s traditional forms of dress when he’d made Roman’s prince suit. He felt his heart drop when he recognised her crest. How was she there? How was she standing that close to Roman? Why wasn’t she in jail? Or banished? Or beheaded?

 

Virgil did his best to keep breathing, he reminded himself that he wouldn’t be able to protect Roman if he was having a panic attack. He moved closer to Roman, his eyes never leaving Jadis.

 

“Oh, I do apologise,” Roman said, his voice cold. “Friends, this is Jadis Anwir,” there was a gasp from Logan who, unusually, had been the last to realise. “Jadis,” Roman continued, “these are my friends.”

 

Virgil realised that Roman hadn’t actually introduced them, despite giving them her name. The way Jadis’ eyes narrowed told Virgil that she had noticed this too.

 

“The council wants you to come to their sitting tomorrow, my lord Prince.” She spat Roman’s title like it was poisonous. “You are welcome to bring your ‘friends’ if you wish.”

Roman didn’t react. All those years of acting training were definitely being put to use. “Thank you,” he said coolly, “Now that your message has been delivered you are dismissed.”

 

They all watched her retreating figure, not able to relax until long after the sounds of her footsteps had died.

 

“How is she here?” Patton whispered, even though Jadis was long out of earshot.

 

“She’s not her brother. She hasn’t been found guilty of anything, besides, its not like she was at Foster Academy with us. She’s probably just mad because her family is in disgrace.” Roman responded, louder than Patton but still not his usual booming self.

 

“And people are not necessarily their siblings. There could be any number of reasons for her not to like us or for us not to like her, but we are undeniably jumping to conclusions without any proper data.” Logan said, taking Patton’s hand.

 

Roman and Virgil’s eyes met and Virgil pursed his lips. To Virgil, his dislike of Jadis was more than suspicion of her house, it was the way Roman had tensed when he’s seen her. That Jadis wasn’t someone to be trusted didn’t feel like jumping so much as taking a small baby step to the conclusion.

 

The next morning Virgil pretended to be asleep long after Roman had gotten up and dressed. He was dreading the question Roman was about to ask him, mostly because he didn’t know what he would say. He hated not knowing the future and the pressure being on him made it so much worse. If he agreed to go with Roman to see the council he’d be stressed out of his mind the whole time, but he’d be able to keep Roman safe, especially since the others didn’t seem to see Jadis to be as much of a threat as he did. If he said no, he’d feel terrible. He’d spend the entire time fearing for Roman’s safety and whether or not Roman agreed, he’d know he was a terrible boyfriend. Virgil groaned as he realised what the answer was.

 

He sat up and made his way over to his suitcase, which had been wheeled into Roman’s room, so Virgil would have access to his belongings. He grabbed a purple button-up shirt and his only jeans that didn’t have rips in them, the nicest clothes he had (not counting a suit that lay abandoned in his closet back in New York, which he’d grown out of and used its small size as an excuse not to go to any formal military events). If Virgil was going to face the Wondry council, then he was going to try to make a good impression. Not that it would work, he thought sullenly.

 

Once he was dressed he felt Roman’s warmth behind him and let himself be wrapped into a hug.

 

“Hey Virg?” Roman whispered in Virgil’s ear. Virgil sighed internally, here it comes. “Would you come to the council meeting today? I wouldn’t ask but . . .“Roman gave a ragged breath, allowing his fear to be visible for a moment.

 

“I’ll go.” Virgil said and Roman relaxed against Virgil’s back.

 

When they went to ask Patton and Logan, Patton was offended that Roman even felt like he had to ask.

 

“Patton is correct,” Logan said, “we are your friends, attending a council meeting to support you seems well within the bounds of what friends traditionally do for one another, and I think we can agree that we’ve all already gone above and beyond the traditional bounds of friendship.”

 

The council room was intimidating. The high ceiling domed into columns which were decorated ornately with different types of stone. The was something very strange about seeing modern office chairs surrounded by such old architecture.

 

Roman grabbed two wheelie chairs from against the wall and pulled them over to the small group of chairs that faced a much larger group of chairs. Virgil realised that this all looked familiar to him, this was the view he’d had of the council hall when he’d accidentally seen Roman’s parent-teacher interview. He sat in one of the chairs beside Roman, Patton put his brakes on behind them, and Logan sat on Roman’s other side, so they formed something of a diamond.

 

Slowly, people began to file into the chamber. Virgil longed for the safety and comfort of a hoodie when he noticed the people staring at him. He felt as though someone had stuck a neon sign above his head that read “The guy who kissed your prince and isn’t even from here”.

 

He slid his hand forward into Roman’s, deciding his need for comfort trumped his fear of being outed. Roman took his hand and gave a comforting squeeze. The room filled quickly, Roman’s parents being the last to arrive. Everyone except Patton rose when they entered and did not sit down again until King Cray gestured for them to.

 

Under the crest of Luciano, an older woman with glossy silver hair raised an eyebrow at King Cray. The King gestured to her.

 

“Do we have any requests for the first order of business?” She asked, her voice stern but kind. She reminded Virgil of Professor McGonagall.

 

“Yes,” Roman’s voice rang clearly throughout the room.

 

The Lady of Luciano gestured to him, “Yes, my lord Prince?”

 

“Why did the council summon me to this meeting?”

 

“Ah,” The woman glanced down at some notes beneath her, “Lady Georgia requested your presence to answer for . . .” She trailed off and frowned. “Lady Georgia? Please explain your terms for summoning the Prince.”

 

Lady Georgia stood up, she too was old, but she lacked the ‘McGonagall-ness’ of Lady Luciano. She rose slowly, but purposefully, hear head craning over the King and Queen to gaze accusingly at Roman.

 

“I feel that the council needs to address the blatant disrespect for our council that Prince Roman posted on twitter last week.”

 

Virgil gulped and looked more closely at Lady Georgia. He immediately wished he hadn’t. Beside her, Jadis sat smugly, her eyes on them. Worse still, he looked up to see the crest of Anwir. Trust them to be out for Roman’s blood. What Virgil hadn’t been expecting, but should have been, was for Roman to be ready for them.

 

“And what part of the tweet was that?” Roman asked. “Need I remind you that Wondry has always celebrated diversity. We were the first country in the Western world to explicitly legalise same-sex marriage in 1694, the first to introduce legal precedents for nonbinary genders on 1160, and our country has remained one of the most LGBT-friendly in the world.

 

“Are you angry because I responded to your bigotry, which has no place in Wondry and never has, by reminding you all that I am who I am, and I will love who I love. I have already told you my solutions to the ‘heir problem’ as you have dubbed it. So unless you have become a conservative American in my time away I suggest you learn to show some respect.”

 

Roman was standing now and Virgil was in complete awe of him. He realised he was lucky enough to be catching a glimpse of the man, no, the king, Roman was going to be. And when Roman stood and left the room, Virgil felt a surge of pride in being part of the group that left with him. Look at him, Virgil thought at the shocked councillors, he inspires loyalty, he knows what he’s doing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot about wheelchair use here.

Roman had absolutely no clue what he was doing. But that didn’t seem to matter because he was getting to be himself. People seemed to genuinely like the person he was, which was certainly novel. His new presence on social media had led to his becoming quite popular all over the world, and though Roman was certainly pretending that the fame was going to his head, it wasn’t really. Or so he told himself anyway. But eventually even a Prince/social media star needed reassurance.

 

“Pat, do you think I’m getting to big-headed?” Roman asked. Virgil and Logan were in the library, researching the history of Wondry so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. And because they really didn’t like their happy-go-lucky boyfriends’ smugness about knowing more about something than they did.

 

Patton answered immediately, and Roman was glad he was such a truly kind person because if anyone else answered a question like that without pausing to think of a way to sugar-coat it, Roman would have had to brace his ego for a bruising.

 

“Well, you have been saying ‘as a social media influencer’ a lot recently, but I think its funny,” Patton smiled at Roman and they both stifled a laugh, “I think you need to be careful, because you can’t un-put something on the internet, so you need to think about what you’re posting.”

 

“So . . . you’re saying I shouldn’t have posted that picture where I showed my butt earlier?”

 

“Not that it wasn’t booty-ful! But yeah, you probably shouldn’t be doing that.”

 

They both dissolved into fits of giggles. It was nice, Patton thought as he looked over at Roman, doubled over with laughter, a lot like old times, except well, they were taller, and he couldn’t walk. Logan said he should probably talk to a therapist about his feelings about needing a mobility aid. Logan called it ‘internalised ableism’ but to Patton it was becoming his regular mood, especially if he was alone.

 

Roman seemed to notice Patton’s change in mood because he put his finger under Patton’s chin and spoke gently.

 

“Hey now, none of that.” Roman paused, “I know! Let’s us ride your wheelchair like a trolley in a supermarket down the hallway!”

Patton smiled, he should have known, Roman was the master if distracting him, and changing the way people thought about stuff.

 

“You ready, Pat?” Roman asked, the smile evident in his voice.

 

“As I’ll ever be.*” Patton responded.

 

“Then chaaaarge!” Roman raced forward, pushing the chair as fast as he could. Then, suddenly, he jumped onto the back, the sudden change in weight startling Patton slightly.

 

Patton couldn’t stop laughing, the kind of scream-laugh that happens on rollercoasters or bungee jumps. Roman behind him was still yelling his battle cry. Roman kicked them around a corner and they were racing right into a wall. Patton was getting ready to abandon ship and hopefully pull Roman out of the way too, when Roman jumped down and pulled against the force on the chair, making it tilt backwards so they could see each other’s faces.

 

There was yet another fit of giggles and Patton began to feel a hollow in his stomach, guilt. That’s what the feeling was, but why was he feeling guilty? Spending time with Roman wasn’t something to feel guilty about. Oh.

 

“You OK there, Patton?” Roman asked, his upside down face smiling and it had no right to be that handsome, when had Patton’s childhood friend grown up?

 

“I’m . . .” Patton couldn’t bring himself to lie, “confused. And sad” He said, “but it’s nothing we can really do anything about, so I’d rather not think about it if you don’t mind,”

 

“Of course, no worries. You don’t have say anything you don’t want to. But you know you can talk about this stuff with me, or Logan, or Virgil.” And with that Patton smiled became sunny and warm.

 

“Can I tell you what I want?” Patton shot Roman a knowing look, which was returned with a sly grin. “What I really really want?”

 

“So tell me what you want, what you really really want!”

 

“Oh God, please tell me you haven’t blown anything up.” Virgil’s voice came from around the corner.

 

“You have no faith in us!” Roman pouted.

 

“If the microwave incident of last year is anything to go by he’s giving you too much credit.” Logan said and upon seeing him the hollow in his stomach returned in full. There was the usual love, joy, and elation, but the guilt was there, pressing on his insides.

 

Swallowing down the nervousness that came with that Patton wheeled over to Logan and Virgil, hugging them.

 

“Can we maybe do a movie night tonight?” Virgil asked.

 

“Virgil has told me that he’s experiencing an episode of heightened anxiety and would like to be distracted. I have agreed on the condition that he talk to us about when is causing the anxiety as soon as he is able to.” Logan informed them.

 

“I’ll tell you as soon as I know,” Virgil said bitterly.

 

“Aw, Virgil, of course we can, you can pick the movie.” Roman took a step towards Virgil, his arms outstretched in a question. Virgil nodded, still not leaving the embrace he was in with Logan and Patton, so Roman joined them.

 

They went down to the kitchens to collect some food for their movie night, taking the elevator as Patton couldn’t use the stairs. They stocked up on all the junk food they could find as well as some “real food” that the cook pushed on them, insisting that they try to eat something sensible. There was so much that all four of them had to carry something.

 

There was a line of people waiting for the elevator when they got to it. Patton sighed.

 

“You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up,” He said, trying to keep his voice upbeat.

 

“Are you sure?” Virgil asked.

 

“I’d be happy to wait with you,” Logan added.

 

“It’s fine, really. You guys go set up, I’ll meet you there.”

 

They hugged, and Patton watched as his friends headed for the stairs. This was what he was afraid of. They were all going off to college soon and they all know what they wanted to do: Roman would major in law with a minor in drama, Virgil was studying psychology, and Logan was going into academia. Patton used to have all these ideas about what he could be, but now every idea he’d had just felt silly. Vet? His hands shook, and that was after months of physiotherapy, he might hurt some poor animal. Chef? He’d burn himself, or someone else. He just felt like his friends were going to run off without him and leave him in the dust.

 

Finally, he was able to get into the lift, his motorised wheelchair pinned between two food trolleys. One person he didn’t recognise was talking into her phone.

 

“Yes, now would be a good time to take the next step . . . No, they think this is the end of it.” Patton felt bad for eavesdropping, but it wasn’t like he was trying to, and soon any feeling of guilt he may have felt dissolved and gave way to fear.

 

“No, the Prince is predictable like that, he won’t suspect a thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually isn't as big of a cliff-hanger as you may think it is.  
> I'm sorry to do this but I'm really struggling with writing this fic at the moment so I'm going oh hiatus and writing some other stuff instead so I can come back to this with fresh eyes. I should be back to it by September so I can have a month to chill out for a bit.   
> *reference to my first fic :)
> 
> <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for anxiety and panic attacks.

Virgil’s fear was not assuaged by Patton’s disclosure of what he’d heard in the elevator. He burrowed his head into Roman’s shoulder, but he still couldn’t quite stop shaking. Patton and Logan both saw this and moved over. Patton enveloped Virgil in a bear hug and Logan lay sort of in front of them, so that he could watch both them and the TV.

 

To absolutely no-one’s surprise, Virgil had chosen the Black Cauldron. Virgil and Roman had watched it so many times they were saying the lines under their breath along with the film.

 

Slowly, Virgil was able to push through the blind panic to a more rational state of fear. Someone was out to get Roman, that was nothing new. And Roman was handling himself pretty well. He glanced over at Logan who felt the gaze and turned around to look at him.

 

“Do you want to pause the movie? Or will we attempt to talk over it?” Logan asked. Virgil just shrugged in response. Soon enough the film was paused, and Logan was sitting on crossed legs, facing Virgil directly. The others watched Virgil attentively.

 

“I just- I um- you heard what Patton said. I just feel like everything’s going to fall apart again.” Virgil tripped over his words. Trying to translate the horrifying, swirling, sinking, feeling that had been living in his body for as long as he could remember felt impossible. Sometimes, when he was lucky, he could understand what exacerbated it but it was easy to just say ‘this is how I’ve always been’ but then something would happen and his anxiety would scream in vindication, making it that much harder to deal with.

 

Roman and Patton each placed a calming hand on one of Virgil’s knees, Logan took his hand. The contact helped slow him down and he was able to focus on translating feelings into thoughts.

 

“I just feel like, I’m not doing anything right.” Virgil said leaving a lot of it unsaid. He was a bad boyfriend, a bad friend, and just generally failing at life. He still had college applications to submit and the last royal plot had become so all-consuming. He had no idea how he was supposed to get through Summer. Everything was so much easier when it was left unsaid. He didn’t want to bring everyone down.

 

But there was no hiding how he was feeling. At least not from his friends. Roman breathed a sigh into his hair and gripped his thigh more tightly. Patton made a small tutting noise, snuggling closer to Virgil. Logan just stared at him, Virgil could practically hear the cogs turning in his brain. Virgil knew Logan struggled to read people and respond appropriately, but Logan understood more than he knew.

 

“Tell us more. If you can.”

 

Virgil just stared at them. What was he supposed to say? He shook his head, it was too hard to turn his feelings into words. He just wanted to stay with them. All of them; and watch the movie and not think about all the things he couldn’t control, and all the things he was doing wrong.

 

When Virgil woke up the next morning it took him several minutes to understand where he was and what was going on. He could smell Roman’s familiar scent in front of him, but they weren’t in Roman’s bed. There was more warmth behind him and above him. Both of these sources of warmth were stiller than Roman but that wasn’t saying much, as Virgil had discovered that Roman moved erratically while he was asleep. Virgil found it simultaneously endearing and kind of annoying, so just like every other aspect of their relationship.

 

Patton stirred next to him, opening his arms sleepily. “You OK, Virge?”

 

Virgil accepted the hug, feeling safer than he had in a long time. He had all of them there with him, Roman, Patton, and Logan. It was strange how they had only been friends for a year but they seemed to understand Virgil better than people he’d known his entire life. Virgil would have been content to stay on the floor with them like that forever, but he couldn’t resist the offer of a blueberry muffin and another trip to the library with Logan.

 

The Keep’s library was the coolest room in the castle by a long shot. There was something seriously awesome about having brand-new computers next to texts that dated back over two thousand years. Growing up in the US, where much of the nation’s history prior to colonization had been erased, or at least wasn’t accessible, this was a wonder in itself for Logan and Virgil.

 

Logan and Virgil were determined to go through every section, though they had begun with the map room and still not yet left it. There was just so much to learn, Wondry had such a long history and it was so well documented that every time they decided to leave, one of them (usually Logan) would find another book that they just had to read.

 

Virgil liked the peace of the library. It was full of answers to so many questions, so he felt, even of this feeling was cheesy and stupid, that maybe it could answer the many questions that swirled darkly through his head.

 

That peace, however, was disrupted by Roman and Patton. While they were wonderful people, they didn’t quite grasp the concept of peace and quiet.

 

“Look!” Patton handed a gold rectangle over to Virgil and Logan. It took Virgil a second to recognise it as Roman’s phone and not a threat. The screen displayed a simple email.

 

‘In order to celebrate midsummer, the court will be hosting a masque, in the traditional fashion. The masque will take place on the 1st of July.

Signed, King Cray.’

 

“Is this normal?” Logan asked.

 

“There hasn’t been one for ages!” Patton grinned, he and Roman were practically jumping at the news.

 

“A masque as in masquerade? Like costumes and stuff?” Virgil asked, apprehension clear in his voice.

 

“Yes! But don’t worry Virgil, we’ll go clothes shopping and stuff, it will be so fun!” Roman exclaimed, doing a little twirl to make his point. Virgil rolled his eyes like it wasn’t incredible endearing.

 

“We should leave the library, we are disturbing others,” Logan said, he and Virgil essentially marching Roman and Patton out. Their eyes met and they shared a small smile, their sunshine boys were at it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a long time coming. I'll be updating a bit slowly because life has not been kind to me these last few months. I know things will get better and my writing is helping a lot, but time pressure is not fun so . . . sorry.  
>  Anyway I hope you like the new chapter, I have a lot of new exciting ideas for this story.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I'm trying to look after myself a bit better and after my partner and I broke up I'm not always in the right headspace for writing romance. But there is more, and the plot will really have kicked in by chapter 13. Whooooooooo boy will it.

“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Virgil asked wryly as Roman lead him out of one of the many secret passageways that littered the palace.

 

Roman rolled his eyes in jest, offering Virgil his award-winning smile. “I’m not having our first date be a mess of court pageantry, so I’m taking you out on a date.”

 

“You love court pageantry,” Virgil retorted, ignoring the warm feeling that spread through his body as Roman spoke. He already felt guilty enough. He knew Roman felt like he had to curb a lot of himself in order to ease Virgil’s anxiety, it made him feel like he was just dragging the whole relationship down, especially when he combined that with the fact that he was so very needy. He really had no idea why Roman stayed with him, but he was too afraid to ask.

 

Virgil and Roman followed the twisting corridors on the passageway, coming out near the bakery on the main strip of shops outside the keep. The sun was just setting to the West, giving the town an earthy glow. Roman pulled Virgil into the bakery where Ms Caoimh was waiting with a set table, piled high with pies.

 

“Thank you for arranging this on such short notice,” Roman beamed at Ms Caoimh.

 

“It was my pleasure, Roman,” she smiled, pulling out chairs for the both of them.

 

The food was good. Really good. Ms Caoimh had outdone herself, every pie was buttery and flaky with delicious fillings. It was a simple food but done perfectly. Virgil balked when Roman pulled out a bottle of wine.

 

“Roman, we’re not 21,” he said.

 

“The drinking age in Wondry is 16,” Roman replied, “so we can if we want to, but you don’t have to.”

 

Virgil shrugged and held out his glass. He’d never had wine before, the few parties he’d been too before his life had gone to shit had involved mostly vodka mixed with various sodas. He took a sip. It was surprisingly savoury, not like anything else he’d ever had. But once he got used to the shock of the flavour he didn’t really mind it.

 

“You like it?” Roman asked.

 

“I’ve never had wine before,” Virgil told him, taking another sip, “it’s not bad.”

 

Roman smiled. Virgil knew Roman didn’t like silence, always feeling the need to fill a room, so he decided to tell Roman about his and Logan’s exploits in the library. Roman, in turn, regaled Virgil with stories about his and Patton’s adventures in the Keep as children. It was easy for Virgil to forget how long Patton and Roman had known each other, the way Roman told it, you’d think they’d been friends in the womb.

 

“ . . . and then Patton fell down, I caught him, but the ‘treehouse’ didn’t survive.” Roman mimed catching an invisible Patton.

 

“I wonder how Logan would feel knowing you used precious books to build a treehouse in the library,” Virgil replied.

 

Roman chortled, “He’d probably give us that face, you know the one.”

 

“You mean the one where he tries to look at us over his glasses and fails miserably because he can’t see?” Virgil held back a laugh.

 

“Yep! That’s the one!” Roman didn’t bother fighting down his laugh, but Virgil had come to understand that Roman meant all his teasing in good faith, so this didn’t make him as uneasy as it would have when they’d first met.

 

By the time they walked back to the Keep Virgil was in better spirits. It was probably weird that he and his boyfriend mostly talked about their mutual friends on their date, but it had been nice, almost like having Patton and Logan there with them. Virgil felt like less of a crappy boyfriend when he looked over at Roman, illuminated by the starlight, holding Virgil’s hand and humming ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’. He loved Roman, that was a concrete fact. And even though that felt like it wasn’t the whole story, but it was enough, more than Virgil thought he deserved, really.

 

Logan and Patton had waited up for them, though Patton was dozing off on the couch, his head curled under Logan’s chin as they lay on the couch. Still, Patton jumped up when he realised Virgil and Roman were back. He gestured them over making the cuddle pile double in size.

 

“How was your date?” Logan asked.

 

“Really nice,” Virgil answered giving them all a small smile. It was strange, now that they were back he felt more at peace than he had while they were out, he like going out with Roman, but with all of them there, it just felt like everything fell into place. Virgil mentally shook himself. Roman alone was too much to ask, no need to set himself up for more pain that he had to go through.

 

But Virgil still enjoyed that stolen moment, knowing that none of the people on the couch with him knew how amazing they were. It was a shame Virgil didn’t know how to tell them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the clothing descriptions, I just really love sewing and fashion, it really shows in this chapter.

“Hey there kiddo, you ready to go?” Patton asked from the doorway.

 

Virgil shifted himself off the unused bed in the unused room he’d been given at the palace and met Patton at the door. “Sure, lets get this over with.”

 

Patton’s face fell, making Virgil feel guilty for not being more excited about going shopping. “Sorry,” Virgil said.

 

“You don’t go shopping much, huh?” Patton tried to lighten the tension. Virgil had to admit that it was hard to stay sullen around Patton, he was just so . . . It was difficult to explain. But Patton was definitely the human equivalent of sunshine and rainbows.

 

“Not really. Besides, they probably don’t even have a Hot Topic here.” Virgil attempted to joke. He was relieved to see Patton laugh.

 

“Even if they did, they don’t exactly sell the minds of clothes we’re looking for,” Patton smiled.

 

“Maybe not, but I’m sure Roman’s face would be priceless,” Virgil smirked.

 

Patton nudged Virgil affectionately, “Be nice,” he said.

 

“Never,” Virgil grinned back.

 

Virgil had to admire Patton’s wheelchair navigation as they made their way down the cobblestone main strip. It had been Roman’s idea (of course), for them to go shopping without their boyfriends, that way they could be surprised by the final outfits. Virgil was really glad he was able to go with Patton, Logan and Roman really had no sense of how to budget – a side effect of growing up rich – but Patton, despite also growing up rather wealthy, didn’t like spending money on material stuff. Virgil could totally see him growing up to be one of those people that ran an animal shelter or something out of his house. And he’d totally let every single animal sleep on the bed. Logan would probably have to build them a super-sized bed to accommodate it all. The picture was heart-warming, but it hurt a bit. They were all going to go their separate ways next year, and there was no guarantee that Virgil or Roman would get to do anything in that picture, no matter how much Virgil wished he could put them in it.

 

They pulled into a nondescript shop down a cobble alleyway, it took Patton a few tried but he managed to lever his wheelchair over the slight step at the doorway with only a little help from Virgil. The shop was small and pokey, the light diffused not by curtains, but by the sheer volume of clothing, hung to the ceiling. It reminded Virgil of old bookshops, the kinds that were practically held together by books, except here it was clothes.

 

“Patton!” Came a voice from behind a collection of velveteen jackets, “And here I was thinking you’d forgotten me!”

 

“Never Mr Dufaigh! Oh, and this is my friend Virgil,” Patton gestured to Virgil who waved his hand awkwardly.

 

Out of the jackets stepped someone who might just have been the coolest man Virgil had ever seen. Mr Dufaigh was wearing bright teal suit with black accents, his afro jetting out of his head in all directions, the overall effect made him look like a sun deity come to earth. He shot Virgil a dazzling smile.

 

“Another American?”

 

“Um, yes,” Virgil winced at how quiet his voice sounded. Patton, astute as ever, took over, sensing Virgil’s discomfort.

 

“We need something to wear for the masque, and I knew just where to go.”

 

Mr Dufaigh’s face lit up immediately and he began to dive through the piles of clothes, moving at a speed that Virgil certainly didn’t expect a 50-something year old man to be capable of.

 

“Virgil, do you believe in magic?” Patton said unexpectedly.

 

“Um, sorry – What?”

 

“I was just wondering because, well, when Roman and I were kids we always thought Mr Dufaigh was magic, he can always tell when clothes are going to fit and look good and stuff.

 

The store truly was incredible, and Mr Dufaigh darted about the room bringing them samples to try on, his taste was certainly eclectic at first, but as Patton and Virgil started expressing opinions about the clothes, he narrowed down his search. Patton was quick to find lots that he liked, and so Virgil had to help him narrow down his options, sending Roman a photo of the final look to see if it would match. It was almost Georgian in appearance, with a long coat that gained volume at Patton’s waist. The coat itself was in delicate sky blue with a soft white trim. He wore matching suit pants with it and a simple white linen shirt, reminiscent of what a pirate from a storybook might wear in the way it billowed. It was really impressive the way the ensemble made Patton look unusually grown up, despite accentuating his soft, sweet nature.

 

Virgil’s outfit, however, seemed to take forever. He didn’t want to wear anything overstated or fussy, but anything plain simply wasn’t appropriate.

 

“C’mon, Virge, just one more. Please,” Patton begged when Virgil finally expressed his desire to go home. Mr Dufaigh clearly sensed what was riding on this and pulled out the big guns. A simple, collared purple shirt was tossed at Virgil, it seemed to be made of the same cotton that bedsheets were made of because it was so soft. It was quickly followed by simple black trousers, such that Virgil was a tangle of clothing and limbs for a moment while he sorted out the garments that he had on as well as the ones that had just come flying towards him.

 

Finally, Mr Dufaigh made a sound of relief and gingerly handed Virgil a jacket the likes of which Virgil had never seen before. Like a prince suit, the collar stood up, though it was in contrasting silver compared to the sleek black of the rest of the coat. The decorative stitching around the buttons and along the seams was fine and would have been invisible, had it not been in metallic silver on black.

 

“It’s from the Thorne dynasty,” Mr Dufaigh said, “I knew I had it here somewhere,”

 

“You need to get that one,” Patton said, “trust me on this.” Virgil smiled at him in return.

 

*          *          *

 

Roman waited a while after Virgil and Patton walked out of the castle and his field of vision, but he couldn’t contain his excitement. He turned to glance at Logan who was eyeing him warily, Roman, both benevolent and magnanimous, ignored this.

 

“Well Riley, what have we got?” Roman rubbed his hands together and Riley wheeled in a long rack of clothes.

 

Riley hummed. “I was thinking this suit with a red shirt, Riley gestured to a respectable white suit jacket and black pants.”

 

Roman shoot his head, “That’s so dull. Have I shown you the jacket Virgil made me?”

 

Riley rolled their eyes, “Are you really going to wear that?” Sure, they were used to Roman’s nonsense by now, but this was excessive.

 

Roman, demonstrated a rarely used ability and read the room. “No, but could I perhaps have a white jacket tailored and altered using it as inspiration.”

 

Riley nodded, drawing erratically on a tablet and then showing Roman the result.

 

“May I see?” Logan asked, using his cell phone to photograph the image. It was as though a suit jacket and the jacket Virgil had made had had a baby, with the red shirt and black trousers Riley had sketched underneath, Roman was going to look very good indeed.

 

“What about Logan?” Roman asked Riley, turning his whirlwind attention to Logan.

 

“I am perfectly happy to wear a regular suit.” Logan said, resisting the urge to hide until Roman’s attention had turned elsewhere.

 

Riley shook their head, “You’d stick out like a sore thumb, darling,”

 

Roman darted over to the rack and pulled out a smart looking three-piece Victorian style suit in navy. I had simple accents of brass buttons and a royal blue lining that would only be visible when Logan moved. As Logan inspected it more closely he saw simple black geometric embroidery almost invisible against the navy. As much as Logan had insisted and would forever insist that he was above simple aesthetics, he was intrigued.

 

“I-“ He said, horrified to find that words were failing him, “It’s . . .”

 

Roman peered at Logan, unusually apprehensive, “I just need you to nod if you like it, it’s miles too big and if you hate it I’ll understand,” Roman was rambling, “I can just go put it back.”

 

“No!” Logan said, surprising himself at the volume at which he spoke, “It’s perfect. Thank you Roman.”

 

And just like that Roman turned beet red and mumbled “Se do bheatha”. Though Logan didn’t understand the words the meaning was clear. In fact, he found he rather liked hearing Roman speak Wondry-Gaelic. Logan often forgot that Roman wasn’t American like the rest of them, his accent was barely noticeable when he spoke English, but hearing Roman speak in his mother tongue served as a reminder. If Logan had been the type to feel sad over small things, he’d regret not being able to understand Roman expressing himself like this, but it would not do to sit around and wish, he would simply have to learn the language. An easy solution to a simple problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha I sure have gotten behind with the chapter updates and such. If it makes you all feel any better, I'm about to go on holidays and I should have plenty of time to write while I'm away. I've reached a point where I really just want to finish this story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter contains swearing, gore, and minor character deaths. This is the beginning of the bad stuff. My poor boys.  
> PS I will write a one shot of any pairing + any trope for the first person to translate all of Roman's gaelic lines.

Virgil had never seen a place even half as busy as the Keep on the day of the masque. Foster Academy during exam week came close, but there was something _more_ about the way people moved, like every step they took was being watched. Even Patton and Roman had the sense to stay out of the way of those in the castle’s employ. So, the four of them essentially lived in Roman’s suite, Riley was more than happy to bring them food because it meant they got a break from their other duties.

 

Roman had talked them into watching Labyrinth which Virgil hadn’t seen since he was 11. Virgil was horrified that his parents had let him watch it, David Bowie’s prominent crotch bulge alone was inappropriate for children. Still, Virgil had to respect the movie’s aesthetic and it was impossible not to enjoy the characters. They had formed a cuddle pile, which was becoming more and more common for them; instead of splitting off into couples, all four of them would pile onto the couch so that everyone was touching everybody else. Virgil felt awful for thinking it, but it was so nice, definitely better that just cuddling Roman, which was awesome, but Virgil always felt like he was doing something wrong, in the cuddle pile there were no set rules which meant Virgil couldn’t screw up and break them.

 

“It’s time for us all to get ready. Virgil if it’s all the same to you I will get changed in your room with you to preserve the surprise,” Logan said as the credits rolled.

 

“Sure, whatever,” Virgil said, his brain immediately beginning to picture Logan naked because it was an asshole like that. He fought down the paranoia that threatened him “They know what you’re thinking, and they hate you for it.” He just wished his brain would shut up.

 

Logan and Virgil got changed in silence, with Virgil repeating “Don’t look and Logan getting changed. Don’t look at Logan getting changed.” Over and over again in his head. He looked at his suit in a mirror and was overcome with doubts, it was far too much, and he felt like a kid playing dress-up. What if Roman thought he looked awful, or worse, what if Roman, Patton, and Logan said it looked nice to make him feel good and then everyone else laughed at how ridiculous he looked?e left

 

“I can hear your cognitive distortions from over here, Virgil. What is wrong?” Logan said from across the room, and Virgil was rendered temporarily mute as he took in Logan’s outfit. Logan’s formal speech and sense of style had always made him seem older and slightly out-of-place at Foster Academy, but in his Victorian suit he looked like he belonged. It kept his scholarly vibe but made him look so handsome. Virgil actually couldn’t even. He’d mocked that phrase on Tumblr before, but it was the only way to describe how he felt in that moment.

 

“Not that it is my place to say,” Logan was rambling as Virgil regained use of his senses, “and aesthetic sensibilities are so subjective, but I feel that you would look excellent under any set of aesthetic criteria, certainly, as you are perceived by me, you look magnificent.”

 

Virgil processes what Logan was saying and hoped his blush didn’t show on his face. “Thanks,” he said, not meeting Logan’s eyes, “you don’t look too bad yourself.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

When they met Patton and Roman in the mezzanine Virgil found himself once again unable to comprehend the sights before him. He had known Roman was hot but holy shit, his jacket matched Virgil’s except it was white and gold instead of black and silver. He looked so unbelievably handsome that Virgil was ready to say to hell with taking things slow, he was ready to jump Roman’s bones then and there. And if that wasn’t enough, Patton looked like a dream. Virgil wasn’t surprised by Patton’s clothing, but he was still struck by how good he looked.

 

Roman himself whispered “Naomh fhalbh, tha mi co-sheòrsach,” breathlessly as Logan and Virgil stepped towards them.

 

Virgil took Roman’s offered arm, squashing his guilt at finding Patton and Logan so attractive as they made their way into the ballroom. He summoned what little courage he had to whisper in Roman’s ear.

 

“After this, we may have to have our ‘talk’.”

 

Roman shot upright before whispering back, “Are you sure? There’s no pressure.”

 

Virgil looked at Roman in that suit and he swore he could feel his pupil’s dilating, “I’m sure,” He replied.

 

Roman smiled and he breathed against Virgil’s cheek, “I look forward to it,” he said, his lips curling up even and he pressed a kiss.

 

The ballroom looked amazing, soft golden light streamed out of brass braziers, illuminating the dancefloor where people danced to a combination of traditional and modern music. Nobody looked bad, even the awful Jadis Anwir looked stunning in an emerald green velvet gown.

 

But Virgil’s eyes were soon caught again by his friends’ and they made their way to the dancing. Ordinarily, Virgil would never have danced, no matter what was at stake, but Roman and Patton were so enthusiastic it was contagious, Virgil found himself smiling as they moved in time to some top 40 song. Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil spotted Caila and Roane dancing together, so caught up in each other that Virgil doubted the even noticed the people around them.

 

Several songs later they pulled away from the dancefloor in search of one of the servants floating around with food. Virgil was sweaty, flushed, and having the time if his life. He felt amazing, like the four of them could take on the world.

 

But very suddenly, the faux candles went out. The king and queen called for calm. But there was still enough light streaming through the doors and through the windows, enough for Virgil to bear witness to the most horrifying thing he’d seen in his life as two cloaked figures approached the kind and queen on the dais and slit their throats. Virgil wasn’t ready for the amount of blood that poured out, staining their white and gold clothing red. Once he understood what had happened he looked around for Roman but instead was met with gloves around his mouth, He mashed with his teeth and struggled as much as he could, but the gloves must have been laced with something because he was loosing vision in the corners of his eyes and the blackness was spreading. Still, Roman needed him, so Virgil didn’t stop struggling until he was completely claimed by the dark.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The early events of this chapter are the same as the last chapter but from Roman’s perspective so warnings for parental death and more gore.

The ballroom was one of those rooms that was never really finished. It seemed like every time any construction was completed someone would think of something to add or take away. Roman had never seen it stay the same over two events. He felt a sense of pride tinged with patriotism as he led his friends through the grand sandstone doorway. Patton, what hadn’t seen the room since twenty-seven ballrooms ago ooh-ed and ah-ed appreciatively. It was harder to decipher Logan and Virgil, but Roman had practice. Logan took his glasses off and polished them before putting them back on, which Roman knew meant he was checking that what he was seeing was real. Virgil’s was even more subtle, but there was no mistaking that small intake of breath or the way Virgil slightly increased his grip on Roman’s arm, not so hard that it was in panic, just a soft squeeze.

 

Roman was doing his best not to think too much about what Virgil had just said to him, in part because he knew that Virgil could change his mind at any time and he didn’t want to build it up as a certainty in his mind, and in part because his trousers were rather tightly tailored as it was. Still, it felt like the electric signals in his body and brain had turned the voltage up to 11.

 

Well, if he was going to have to keep himself distracted for the next few hours before it was socially acceptable for the crown prince to leave with his astonishingly handsome emo, then he was going to make sure he looked magnificent doing it.

 

He pulled Patton out onto the dancefloor, certain that the others would follow, and he was right. Until high school, Roman had been educated by tutors in the palace and it had involved a lot more than your standard school curriculum, sure there was the usual math, languages, sciences, but there had also been self-defence, politics, and dancing. While Patton was a good dancer because he simply danced for the joy of it, not giving a damn what people think, Roman was good because he had learned every dance he could be taught and had the skill to embellish them.

 

He could feel people’s eyes boring into him, but Roman had many years of ignoring them under his belt, any self-consciousness he might have felt had long been trained out of him. Roman wasn’t entirely sure how many songs had passed but when he turned to check on his friends they were standing against the wall near the hors d’oeuvres. Virgil was smiling one of his rare full-face smiles.

 

“What are you three talking about?” Roman asked, hearing muffled giggles as he approached.

 

“Oh, you know, nothing important,” Virgil smirked, “you.”

 

Roman gave them all on of his looks of mock indignance that had become his trademark, Virgil had taken to calling them ‘Offended Princey Noises’. Roman did a melodramatic twirl around them, grabbing a canape off a nearby tray.

 

He leaned in his casual pose against the wall, looking up to see his parents who smiled at him, he knew what they were trying to say, they were happy that he was happy. His mom had even said, the previous day, just how proud she was of him. His father had never been especially verbose when it came to emotional stuff, but he’d given Roman a proper hug, not just a pat on the back after the last council meeting. It felt like he’d finally perfected it, the balance between being a prince, a son, a friend, and himself.

 

Very suddenly, the lights went out. Roman could still see, he could hear his parents calling for calm. They didn’t notice the figures behind them, neither did Roman until it was too late.

 

There are a lot of terrible things in the world, many of which had already happened to Roman and his friends, but this, this was something new and too terrible to bear. For the rest of his life, Roman would never be able to scrub the image of his parent’s throats being sliced open from his mind. Long after the ballroom had been cleaned he would see the stains on the floor where his parents’ lifeblood had drained out.

 

In the moments where Roman’s brain was taking in all this information, trying to protect him but really just filing it away to torment him over and over again, he stood still, unable to move.

 

“The king is dead. Long live the king.” Riley whispered in Roman’s ear, he looked over to Riley’s face, and the last tiny bit of hope that Roman had been holding on to disappeared. Riley looked at Roman, his expression on of great pity.

 

“Also, it seems, your majesty, that in the confusion, two of your friends disappeared, Virgil and Logan.” When Riley said it, Roman was able to hear Patton’s trembling voice calling through the hallways.

 

“Logan? Virgil?”

 

Roman’s legs carried him over to Patton where he felt the dam break. He knelt down so he could hug Patton and wept, probably ruining Patton’s lovely blue suit.

 

He could hear Riley redirecting people, so they didn’t see their new king break down, but that was so peripheral to what Roman cared about. He let Patton guide him back to his rooms.

 

“I’m going to have to leave and move into mom and dad’s rooms, aren’t I?” He said to Patton, horrified at how croaky his voice sounded.

 

“Shhh, Ro, don’t worry about that right now, we’ll come up with a plan tomorrow, but right now we just need to get one foot in front of the other and get you to bed so you can rest, it’s been a long day.” Patton gently tucked Roman into bed, he was getting better at standing for short periods of time.

 

“Pat?” Roman asked, his tone vulnerable. Patton hummed in response. “Stay. Please,” Roman asked, “I don’t want to be alone.”

 

“Oh, Ro,” Patton sighed concernedly and lay down next to Roman, “You never have to be.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, just a heads up, Virgil has a panic attack towards the end of the chapter. If you want to skip it go from "Virgil tried to quiet his mind" to "He collapsed into Logan, holding onto his friend for dear life."

Virgil woke up slowly, which was unusual for him. Normally, he would wake up with a start, and hide under the covers until the shock of waking up had worn off. But this was different, Virgil’s eyes felt as though they had been glued together and his brain was foggy, it took more effort that it should have to string two thought together. This groggy state may have saved Virgil’s life. As the events of the previous night came back to him, Virgil’s first instinct was to shoot awake and run. But his mind was too clouded to process that response so instead he reached for his slowly-awakening senses.

 

He could smell dampness and soil, which meant they had to be underground. He could feel rope around his legs. There was some weight and warmth against his left that felt familiar and he could hear heavy footsteps every now and then coming from either side of him. There were four people in the room. Two must have been guards, either side of them, and Virgil knew better than to think that they were the benevolent kind. The weight on his shoulder seemed familiar so he tried to lean himself towards it in a way that the guards wouldn’t notice. Virgil sniffed and beneath the smells he had already identified there was a sharp, clean smell, like mint with citrus. Logan.

 

Virgil was filled with relief, immediately followed by guilt at being happy that Logan was there. He tried to ignore it. Logan was smart, Logan would help them find a way out. But Logan was unconscious. Virgil tried to think what Logan would say.

 

“They believe that you are unconscious, and therefore not a threat, use this to gain more information,” The mental Logan suggested. Virgil didn’t have a better idea, or any idea other than ‘run’, so he tried to keep himself looking unconscious.

 

Virgil didn’t know how long he spent playing dead. It was definitely more than an hour, but the exact amount of time was anybody’s guess. The only sounds had been those of the guards pacing or shuffling and Logan’s quiet breathing. But those sounds were cut by footsteps: The ‘clip-clop’ of high heels against stone. Virgil froze but forced himself to maintain his charade.

 

“That’s not the prince!” Came a woman’s voice. The guard to Virgil’s left mumbled something in Gaelic. “God you’re so incompetent! How hard was it? Deal with the King and Queen and bring me the Prince!”

 

The woman bent down over Virgil and Logan. Virgil could smell her expensive perfume and feel her breath on his face, he fought down a flinch when she touched his face.

 

“Luckily for you, you’ve got us a bargaining chip, the Prince’s little boyfriend, so I guess you can live to see another day.”

 

Virgil wished he knew who the speaker was, he knew he recognised the voice but he couldn’t place it.

 

“Whatever, mother has called a meeting. Lock the cell and hurry up!”

 

Virgil winced as he heard an iron door close. There went their way out. He dared to open his eyes and saw a figure walking down the corridor, he recognised her now. It was Jadis Anwir.

 

He should have known. Sure, it wasn’t fair to judge people based on their families, but Mr Mendax’s whole schtick had been wanting the throne for himself, and his claim to the throne came from his family. So Jadis had planned to capture Roman after killing his parents and then what? Roman was for too gallant and stubborn to hand the throne over, no matter what she said.

 

Virgil opened his eyes properly and tried to undo the rope around his legs. The knot was stubborn, but he had time. Several blisters and a lot of rope burn later, Virgil had managed to untie both himself and Logan. He’d hoped that while he was doing that he’d have come up with some sort of plan, but he had nothing and even his mental Logan didn’t have any ideas. The problem was that. He didn’t know what the Anwirs were doing. He understood that he and Logan were going to be used as hostages, but for what? Even if Roman was stupid enough to turn himself over (Oh God, he absolutely is that stupid, Virgil thought), then what were they going to do with him?

 

Virgil tried to quiet his mind so he could think, but he couldn’t. He was too scared, to cold, and too uncertain of the situation he was in. The only thing he knew was the he and the people he cared about were in danger, and that thought did nothing to calm him down.

 

Virgil’s breathing sped up and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. His chest burned and his eyes watered. It felt like he was being crushed from every angle. Virgil knew a panic attack when he felt one but knowing what was going on didn’t mean he could stop it.

 

“Virgil! Virgil you need to breathe, remember: In for 4, Hold for 7, out for 8. Breathe with me.”

 

Logan was awake. That was the first thought Virgil had once his panic had subsided a bit. He collapsed into Logan, holding onto his friend for dear life.

 

“Virgil, take as long as you need, as we don’t seem to be going anywhere, but if you have any information about why we’re here, how we got here, or where here is, I would be very grateful.”

 

Trust Logan to be level-headed after waking up locked in a cell, Virgil thought. Virgil focused on his breathing and Logan’s warmth for a few extra, selfish moments before sitting up.”

 

“OK,” he told Logan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger and short chapter, there will be more coming soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Virgil wasn’t sure how long it had been, maybe a day, maybe only a couple of hours. Virgil had given up all pretence of pretending he didn’t desperately need comfort from Logan and the two of them were huddled in one of the crevices of their cell.

 

“We must be in the old dungeon, it’s the only remaining place in Wondry that has this cave-hybrid architecture, and is close enough to the palace,” Logan deduced.

 

“Now we just need a key, to take down the guards, stop whatever Jadis is planning, and oh, while we’re at it maybe we should try to do brunch.” Virgil knew his sarcasm wasn’t helping. He saw Logan’s shocked face. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

 

Staying calm was impossible, so Virgil instead focused on not letting his fear overwhelm him, trying to focus on getting them out. He had been on the receiving end of enough crap from the world, he wasn’t going to just lie back and let this happen.

 

Still, he jumped even further into Logan’s embrace when he heard the clipping of Jadis’ shoes against the uneven floor, and the heavier footsteps of guards. She moved into the uneven light, so Virgil could just see the outline of a sneer twisting her pretty face.

 

“Pick them up!” She ordered, and two guards pulled them up as though they were nothing more than sacks of flour. Virgil’s head bounced unceremoniously off the guard’s elbow. Ouch, he thought, that really hurt. Virgil tried to twist so he wasn’t being knocked against the guard as he was carried through the corridors. He hoped Logan was keeping track of where they were being taken because Virgil didn’t have a clue.

 

The room they were led into was really sterile, it reminded Virgil of a hospital. It reminded Virgil of their last year at Foster Academy, and the time they’d spend keeping Roman company while they tried to figure out who was poisoning him.  Virgil blushed slightly as he remembered the time Dr Goldberg had caught him and Roman in a compromising position in the school infirmary. Why was his mind running off like that? He wondered. Probably because those memories were a hell of a lot nicer than the situation he was faced with.

 

Jadis picked up something that looked like one of those grabby arm extension things, except the arms were very small and close together. Virgil looked at Logan who was staring at the thing with the same lack of recognition.

 

“This,” Jadis smiled nastily, “is a cattle prod, it won’t kill you, but it’ll definitely hurt, and if you don’t do exactly what I want, you can find out just how much. Is that clear?”

 

Virgil just stared at her.

 

“I said,” Jadis punctuated her point by activating the cattle prod, which made an awful buzzing sound, “Is that clear?”

 

“Yes,” Logan said, nudging Virgil.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Good,” she smiled, lighting a terrifying fire in her eyes, “Then we’ll get along wonderfully. Now, I need you to look into this camera here, and just exist. If you say anything . . .” She buzzed the cattle prod. “Well, I’m sure Mr Berry here knows what 10,000 volts will do to your body.”

 

Apparently, Jadis was rather fond of the sound of her own voice, because she kept talking. “Now, of course, You’re probably rather confused about what you’re doing here, so I want to make it absolutely clear, this is all your precious Prince Roman’s fault. He simply couldn’t stick to the plan. Neither could my brother but that’s neither here nor there. You see, he was supposed to come home and feel trapped and out of his depth, we had plans to make sure of that, there was going to be a financial crisis and everything, and I was going to show up and be all helpful and understanding. Until he’d make the wise decision to marry me for the good of Wondry, regardless of his actual . . . preference.” She glared at Virgil. “But no, he had to tell the entire world, so we had to go with plan B.”

 

She turned around to her guards, “set the video feed up!” She barked at them. Jadis set herself up behind the camera with a microphone, when she spoke next it was clear why, the microphone disguised her voice.

 

“Prince Roman, you have exactly twenty-four hours to abdicate the throne, or these two will suffer the consequences . . .” She continues in this vein when Virgil had an idea. He remembered a conversation he and Roman had had in the Foster Academy infirmary long ago.

 

He moved his hand, and when Jadis turned to look at him, he made a big show of feigning a yawn, before moving his hand into his lap. He just hoped the camera would capture it. Carefully, he began to fingerspell.

 

“J-A-D-I-S” He paused, “O-L-D S-E-C-R-E-T D-U-N-G-E-O-N”

 

Virgil didn’t know what else to say so he folded his middle and ring fingers down and pointed his palm towards the camera, “I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Roman laughed, ‘It’s alright, I bet he’s seen worse. Wait no! I’m sure he’s seen worse. Last year Remy told me that this couple gave each other-‘ Roman finger spelled S,T and I at Virgil.
> 
> ‘You know ASL?’ Virgil asked, not wanting to think too hard about what Roman had just told him.
> 
> ‘I can fingerspell and count to ten, so not really,’ Roman said, uncharacteristically modest.” – Academy of Lies, Chapter 17


	16. Chapter 16

Roman was being crushed by the weight of being alive. He knew it was foolish, but he couldn’t help but hope that if he just refused to acknowledge what had happened, then maybe he would wake up and it would all be a dream; he would wake up next to Virgil, Logan down the hall, and his parents would be just one wing away if he needed them. He also couldn’t help but feel like all this was his fault. Maybe if he’d just been a better boyfriend, a better son, then they’d still be with him.

 

It was like when a baby tooth comes out, Roman knew the tooth wasn’t there, but that didn’t stop his tongue searching for it, or trying to fill the emptiness of where it had been. But this time there was no adult tooth ready to take its place, just that empty feeling and the knowledge that something was there.

 

Roman had refused to move into the king’s apartments, continuing to live in his old rooms. He didn’t answer when people called him “king” or “your majesty”. He didn’t attend council. Only Patton, Riley, Caila, and Roane were allowed to see him. He barely spoke, retreating into the much kinder world in his head at every opportunity.

 

It was Patton that roused him this time. Roman could tell Patton was afraid that Roman would simply reject the real world one day, and Roman couldn’t honestly tell Patton that he wasn’t considering it. But he listened to Patton read his old, battered copy of ‘The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’. Roman pushed himself to remain present, for Patton’s sake, he had to at least try.

 

It had only been three days. How was he supposed to live the rest of his life like this?

 

Riley entered the room as though the door hinges had insulted them. “Roman, Patton you have to see this.” They put a laptop down in front of Roman with no regard for anything in the way. “We’ve just received an untraceable email from a single use address, all it had was this video. Ordinarily, the spam filter would have gotten rid of it but whoever sent it knows their stuff.”

 

The video opened and Roman let out a sob of relief, it was Virgil and Logan! They looked filthy and were still in their clothes from the masque, but they were alive. Patton squealed and grabbed Roman’s hand and Roman gripped it back. They were alive.

 

A distorted voice came over the screen, “Prince Roman, you have exactly twenty-four hours to abdicate the throne, or these two will suffer the consequences. Your abdication must be unconditional and in doing so you will be surrendering not only your claim to the throne but that of any descendants you may have. If you obey me, then no harm will come to your little American pets.”

 

Two parts of Roman immediately went to war with each other. One, that was willing to do anything to protect Virgil was already thinking about what paperwork he would need to abdicate. The other refused, he had been raised to be King someday, it was his birthright.

 

Roman could remember his Dad sending him off onto the jet before he’d started at Foster Academy. “Roman, I don’t ever want you to think that we want to send you away, but sometimes we have to sacrifice things for the good of Wondry, and as King, I am willing to miss my son in order for him to get the education he needs to be a great ruler. And, son, if anyone ever decided to try anything, you remember that you are going to be the best king that Wondry has ever seen.”

 

It was the most emotional Roman had ever seen his father. The most emotional he would ever see his father. But King Cray had died believing that Roman would be king, that Roman would be a good king. Roman couldn’t abdicate. But he couldn’t leave Virgil like that. No, if there was one thing he’d learned as a creative type and a member of the queer community it was that in a world of binaries there was always a third option. He picked the third option.

 

“Roman,” Patton patted his arm, “look at Virgil’s hand.”

 

Roman did look. Virgil was telling him something. It was the ASL alphabet, Virgil had promised to teach him. Roman replayed the video.

 

Virgil’s hand swooped, pinkie out for ‘J’, then a fist with the thumb out for ‘A’. It took Roman several re-watches to decipher it all, but before he knew it a batch of plan cookies were baking in his mind.

 

Roman turned to Patton, “I’m going to go get them,” he said.

 

“Roman you can’t!” Patton stared at him in shock.

 

“Thank about it, Pat,” Roman began, making everything up as he went along, “I’ve been hiding in my room, no one will think it’s odd if I disappear for a bit longer. I can get them and bring them back.”

 

Patton sighed, Roman knew what he was seeing, himself but with that slightly over-the-top fire in his eyes, the ones that told everyone not to get in his way.

 

“Then I’m going with you.”

 

It was Roman’s turn to look shocked. “Patton, you can’t!”

 

Patton just looked at Roman. He had a different kind of determination, a caring kind, like a mother bear defending her young. Roman knew he didn’t have the time he’d need to talk Patton out of it, and he was definitely a sucker for how attractive resolve looked on Patton. He shook himself mentally. It was this BS that had led to the guilt trip his feelings for Virgil were sending him on.

 

They had packed and left within the hour. The grabbed food in case Lo and Virge hadn’t had any and wore the most ordinary clothing they owned (a feat for Roman). Patton wore leg braces instead of his wheelchair in the hopes of attracting less attention. He’d loaded himself up on as many pain killers and he could safely take and was ready to go.

 

The area around the capital was their old stomping ground, they knew the land like the backs of their hands and had no trouble getting to the old gaol. They followed the incline to the deepest parts of the cave, following the dents high heels had left in the dirt floor. The air became dank and musty, the same scent the caves had had long before they had been turned into a gaol and would continue to have long after.

 

They finally came to a lit place, so Roman was able to stop using his phone’s flashlight. When he saw the glimmers of purple and blue, he lifted Patton and ran them both over to the source. It was them! They’d found Logan and Virgil.

 

The captives smiled, tears welled in Virgil’s eyes before the expression changed. There was a dull thunk, Roman turned to look around for the source behind him and saw Jadis herself. Only then her arms moved swiftly, there was pain in Roman’s temple and with a flash of shiny black (like when you close your eyes after looking at a light source) he was dazed. He felt himself get pulled into the cell, unable to do anything.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for concussion

“Did you think that I wouldn’t recognise your little hand signals?” Jadis smirked at Virgil, “I know a hidden message when I see one.”

 

Virgil was torn between two of his most domineering emotions, the self-loathing that told him this was all his fault, and the desire to scream at Roman for not thinking. Roman had an entire army at his command, and he decided to just pop along to the gaol by himself.

 

Roman looked sheepishly at Virgil and Logan, at least he had the sense to wait until Jadis had left to speak, “OK, so I know this isn’t ideal-“

 

“Really?” Virgil said, his anger getting the better of him, “What gave it away? Was it the fact that we’re locked in a literal dungeon? Or the fact that you just left Wondry without a monarch? You basically just handed Jadis what she wants on a silver platter!”

 

“I-I,” Roman stammered, his face pale.

 

“Roman,” Logan spoke up, “Virgil is right, you are far too valuable to Wondry to be this careless. But since you are here, time is now very much of the essence: We need a plan.”

 

Roman wanted to hug Logan, only he could think objectively in a situation like this. Logan was absolutely the best person to have on your team during a crisis. Of course, Roman would never tell him that, there was only room for one big-headed person in their group, and Roman knew he had that covered.

 

“Roman, are you alright?” Virgil asked, his voice quieter, he was looking between Roman and Patton, concern etched on his face. Roman wanted to say something to calm Virgil down, but the words seemed to get lost on the way to his lips so what he said instead was, “humfern.”

 

“That is odd, he spoke perfectly well earlier,” Logan said to Virgil.

 

“No, I can talk,” Roman said, though it sure did take a lot more effort than it should.

 

“You may have a mild concussion,” Logan said, cupping Roman’s face with one hand and looking him over.

 

“How’s Patton?” Roman asked, suddenly very worried. What if something had made Patton worse?

 

“I’m fine,” came Patton’s voice from Virgil’s lap, “just in a lot of pain.” Roman moved his head to follow the voice, it felt like his brain was sloshing about inside his head. Patton was curled up like a cat, his head resting in Virgil’s lap.

 

“Did your pain killers wear off?” Roman asked. Patton nodded and winced.

 

It was true that Roman and Patton, very much in their typical fashion, had run into this with no real idea what they were doing. But in the last year they had grown up a bit, watching Patton try to manage his nerve damage had changed things. Roman had the most classes with Patton, so he always kept spare pain killers on his person, usually a couple of different kinds so Patton could take some even if he’d already had a dose of another kind.

 

Roman took his jacket off, the outside pockets had been searched, but they’d only had cash in them. His phone, and Patton’s medication, were all secured in the inside pocket. He grinned, it hurt, but he kept smiling.

 

“Before you start getting off on being overly-critical,” Roman said to Virgil and Logan, “see what you can make of this.” He passed his phone to Logan who’s eyes lit up.

 

He handed the blister sheet of meds to Virgil, Roman wasn’t sure he could open it with his brain all sloshy.

 

“OK, I guess you aren’t all bad,” Virgil flashed Roman a smile.

 

“Patton, are you wearing your leg braces?” Logan asked, “The one’s I made?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

“I see,” Logan purse his lips, all eyes focused on him (well, as much as Roman’s eyes could focus), “I may have a solution, but it is . . . unsafe,” Logan looked around at them apologetically, “I should be able to set up an explosion using this phone and a leg brace. Sandstone is very prone to explosion, we should be able to escape if I rig it next to where the bars and the stone meet.”

 

“But you can’t control the explosion, can you?” Virgil asked.

 

Logan shook his head, “If I could get cell signal down here I might be able to try something else, but I can’t think of a better way.”

 

Roman felt the gaze of the cell shift to him, he was always coming up with crazy solutions, but his head hurt and he didn’t have any other ideas. He pushed against his mind, trying to break through his daze, he got something, but it wasn’t what he’d hoped for. They were going to go through with Logan’s plan.

 

“What about the shells of the leg braces?” Roman asked, “They’re carbon fibre, right? Could we use them as shields?”

 

Logan nodded slowly, “It wouldn’t protect you from everything, but it isn’t flammable, and could shield us from debris.” He paused, looking at the others, probably hoping one of them would say something, “I take it we’re doing this.”

 

They all nodded solemnly. Logan took a deep breath and got to work. The cave was silent. Roman could feel something pressing at him, he wanted to say something because this may well be his last chance. Maybe if he’d been in full control of his mind he would have stayed silent to, but probably not.

 

“Virgil, I’m sorry,” He said, making Virgil bolt upright and look at him in horror.

 

Virgil stared at Roman, ‘Oh God, he’s breaking up with me, he hates me, this is all my fault,’ immediately began playing on repeat in his head.

 

“But it isn’t fair to pretend anymore, if you hate me and want to break up with me after this, I’ll . . . I guess I’ll understand.” Roman said. Virgil was confused, and more than ready to jump out of his own skin. He hoped Roman would hurry up.

 

“But well, I don’t just love you,” Roman said, which was annoyingly ambiguous. “I don’t know when it started, but the more time I spend with all of us the more I realise that just me and Virgil isn’t what I want.” Virgil’s mind was blank from panic now, “I think I’m also in love with Patton and Logan.”

 

There was the sound of something falling on the floor, Logan had dropped what he was working on.

 

Virgil was struck with admiration for Roman, how was he brave enough to say that? Virgil had been planning on sitting on his feelings until they were squashed, but this, this was brave and ridiculous and all the things he loved about Roman.

 

“That,” Virgil said, “was the best possible thing you could have said.” He didn’t dare look up to finish his thought, “Because I feel the same way.”

 

He looked up then, trying to see what Logan and Patton were thinking, they were looking at each other, there was a secret in the air between them.

 

“Well, that is, um, good.” Logan said, suddenly very busy building the explosive.

 

“Logan and I already discussed this but given how you two can be we weren’t sure if we should say anything.” Patton translated.

 

“When?” Roman asked.

 

“After we watched the Black Cauldron,” Logan said, “Communication is the key to any relationship, so naturally we talked about it.”

 

Roman and Virgil made guilty eye contact. They should have talked about it, before they were stuck in a life or death situation.

 

“We will have a lot to talk about if this works,” Logan said, straightening up.

 

“It better work,” Roman said, “I just found out that I can have my cake and eat it too, I want to date you all and go to the movies and have cuddle piles and tell you all that I love you until you turn red.”

 

Patton spoke up, “I’m with Roman, but I have faith in you Logan, let’s do this.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for disgusting sappy romance

For a long moment after Logan scurried to join them behind their makeshift shield, it looked like it hadn’t worked. Just as Roman wanted to relax and go see what was wrong it went off. Roman would struggle for many years after that to describe what it was like to be in an explosion. None of the languages he knew could do it justice. It was like the sound of a car backfiring if the car was backfiring in your face and the temperature went from mild to hot to mild again so fast his skin didn’t know what to think. And even after saying all that Roman still wouldn’t feel like he’d conveyed it properly.

 

And Roman was lucky, he was the least dazed from the explosion. Virgil had squeaked for a moment, but it was like the sound had died halfway out of fear, Logan was staring at the explosion of his own creating in horror, and Patton still hadn’t opened his eyes and was trying to bury his head on his jacket.

 

But Roman wasn’t about to let them sit and process all this leaving Jadis time to recapture them. The impulsiveness that had led to his getting caught would also get him out of there. He led his boyfriends (?) out of the tunnels and into the daylight without a second thought. But he didn’t stop there.

 

“Logan,” he said, “got any ideas.”

 

“We need to get out of here, do what they least expect.” Logan said, still out of it from the explosion.

 

“I’m not leaving,” Roman said, “this is my kingdom and I’m not abandoning my people to house Anwir.” Logan and the others just stared at him, so Roman did what he did best, kept talking. “But they’re expecting us to run, so we let them think we’ve run away back to the states and instead we hide out. Yes.” Roman was aware that he was starting to sound like mad scientist but hey, whatever worked.

 

“Is there anywhere safe we can regroup?” Logan asked.

 

“Ms Caoimh will take us in!” Patton said, his voice a bit hoarse.

 

“She would indeed!” Roman was relieved, they were getting a plan. “Then what?”

 

No one spoke.

 

“We regroup and form a real plan,” Logan said, “we reach out for whatever support we can and we get ready to fix this.”

Logan met Roman’s eyes, a spark, that wasn’t physically there but was still very much there ran between them.

 

“Then we get my kingdom back.”

 

*          *          *

 

Virgil was so relieved to be warm and clean and in fresh clothes he was almost able to forget how completely off the rails his life had gone. Once upon a time he’d worried about homework and now he was hiding in a bakery in a tiny foreign nation, while one of his boyfriends? His first boyfriend was hiding so he could claim his place as rightful king. And he was maybe dating three different people, that was the strangest part, three people actually wanting to date him.

 

Ms Caoimh fussed over them as she made her way through the pokey house above her shop. Logan and Roman sat beside each other over the computer, while Patton went through Ms Caoimh’s box of medicine, looking for pain killers that might actually help him. Virgil realised that however hard this was on him, it was way harder for Patton, who hadn’t walked as far as he had today since his injury. Just another reason to hate the Anwirs.

 

Virgil walked over to Patton, who was reading the tiny print on the back of the medicine boxes.

 

“Hey,” Virgil said softly, to make sure Patton wasn’t surprised.

 

“Hey,” Patton replied, exhaustion filling his voice.

 

“Go lie down,” Virgil said, hoping it came across as gentle, “I’ll sort this out.”

 

Patton smiled at him and collapsed gracelessly onto the couch. Virgil tried to make sense of the medicine and found two that could safely be taken together, which he handed Patton along with some juice to take them with.

 

“Thanks, Virge,” Patton said, downing the pills and all the juice on one mouthful.

 

Behind them, at the computer, Roman stood up and shouted, “I’ve got it!” Making Virgil and Patton jump.

 

“Logan, tell Riley to send a car to the airport via Marmor house, it a manor that belongs to the royal family, so everyone will think that’s where we went.”

 

“I can probably only get one message to them safely, is there anything else I should put in it?” Logan was typing away, not even looking at Roman as he asked the question.

 

“Just that we’re alive and safe.” Roman sighed loudly and ran his hand through his hair.

 

“What then?” Virgil asked.

 

“Then we do what Logan suggested, try to contact some allies. It should be easier to get messages out of Wondry, since everyone in the keep is actively looking for us. But I’m not sure who to call.”

 

A terrible thought occurred to Virgil. “Not my mom, not unless you want a war.”

 

Roman pursed his lips, “Ok, not your mom. Patton, do your parents have any contacts here?”

 

“Not that I know of,” Patton replied, “I’m not even 100% sure what country they’re in right now, I’m a terrible son.”

 

“Nonsense,” said Logan, still not looking up from the computer.

 

“Ohmygoodness!” Patton exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. “Ow!”

 

“Patton, don’t move so quickly,” Virgil said.

 

“Eh,” Patton waved him off, too excited by his idea, “Who do we know that has contacts all over the world and isn’t based in Wondry? And he definitely owes me a favour.”

 

Patton was met with a room full of blank stares, even Logan was looking at him, waiting.

 

“Mr Sanders!” Patton, “Remember the elevator incident last year, he can definitely help us. I mean, I’m sure he’d help us anyway, but it helps that he owes me a favour.”

 

“Patton you are a genius and I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s OK with everyone.” Roman declared. He looked around and unlike Patton who’d been met with blankness, Roman was met with nods.

 

Roman moved around the back of the couch and kissed Patton sweetly. Logan leaned back to whisper to Virgil, “Those two are going to be disgustingly sweet aren’t they,”

 

Virgil shrugged and grinned at Logan “Wouldn’t have them any other way.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reference Harry Potter in this one. Why? Because I have thoughts(TM) about Dumbledore.

Contacting Mr Sanders proved to be a lot easier than Logan had anticipated. It had only been the simple matter of remembering his old Foster Academy login and password. Logan was a little concerned about what this meant for Foster’s security, but for now it was fortunate. He sent off an email asking their former principal to contact him as soon as possible, then turned to Roman.

 

Logan knew that what he was about to ask was going to cause yet more conflict, but no good would come of them dancing around the issue. He took a deep breath, savouring the last of the peace and quiet.

 

“Roman, what exactly are we going to do?” Logan squashed any guilt he might have felt at disturbing the alarmingly sweet picture of Roman, Patton, and Virgil on the couch.

 

Roman, in his typical style, made a broad, sweeping gesture with his arms, “We’re going to take back Wondry!” He said grandly, but Logan knew that wasn’t an answer.

 

“And how exactly are we going to do that?” He asked.

 

To Roman’s credit, he only sputtered for a moment. “Well, -um- they-, they’ve committed treason! And murder!”

 

Logan looked at Roman with pity, “Do you have any proof of that?”

 

It was Virgil’s turn to look at Logan in horror, “You were there! You heard Jadis!”

 

“I know,” Logan said, his voice still level, “but we are emotionally close to Roman, our testimony won’t mean much.”

 

Roman spluttered at Logan, and though that was the noisiest of the expressions before Logan it wasn’t the most heartbreaking, Patton’s eyes were welling with tears, and Virgil had that guarded expression that meant Logan had better start explaining himself right now.

 

“I-I don’t mean to say that this is fair, but we cannot walk into a dangerous situation expecting everything to go right because its fair. In a fair world, Roman was never poisoned, Virgil was never attacked, Patton was never injured, I think we can safely say that the evidence indicates that the world isn’t fair!” Logan was surprised by how much emotion was coming through in his voice.

 

Patton put his arm out towards Logan, reaching out with sympathy etched across his face. Their hands touched and Logan was pulled onto the couch. It was hard for him to remain victim to the emotional turmoil in his brain when he was surrounded by people that made him feel safe. Logan suspected it had to do with smell, a rare sense that bypassed the hypothalamus, giving it stronger links to emotion. One day, assuming they didn’t all get themselves killed, he would test this more adequately, maybe with an fMRI.

 

Wait, no! He was getting off track, they still needed a plan. “Thank you, but could we please come up with a solution instead of distracting me, my distress is valid, and this problem needs to be solved.”

 

If Logan had been distressed before, it was significantly compounded by Virgil’s next comment. “We don’t even know that it’s just Jadis, she’s got to be working with someone and I’m pretty sure I know who, but we definitely don’t have any proof.”

 

“Virgil, we can’t just say that because we don’t like a person.” Patton said.

 

Logan nodded, “what we need, is a trap.” His mind was running at a thousand miles a minute trying to come up with some kind of way to capture a confession, maybe with an fMRI of their brains to show that they were lying, wait no, fMRI machines are huge. Maybe he could make a small one?

 

“Earth to Logan,” Virgil said, “I think you might be overthinking this. Take a second to breathe.”

 

Logan times his breathing with Virgil. But he wasn’t panicking, he was just having a lot of thoughts and it was becoming rather overwhelming. OK maybe he was panicking.

 

Fortunately, a distraction came in the sound of Mrs Caoimh’s computer chiming.

 

Logan darted over to the computer and accepted the call, a decision that could have been utterly disastrous, but it was Mr Sanders, so it wasn’t.

 

“Logan! Goodness me is everything all right? I saw on the news that Roman’s been declared dead!”

 

“They did what?!” Roman vaulted over the couch to the computer.

 

Mr Sanders stared at Roman with a mixture of shock and relief on his face.

 

“Roman! I have to admit, I’m confused, but I’ve never been happier to not know what’s going on.”

 

“Thanks, sir,” Virgil said, popping his head up into the frame.

 

“I’ve been gone for less than 48 hours and they’ve declared me dead!” This is actually ridiculous! A blatant grab for my throne!”

 

“I’m not an expert on the situation, but Roman, I want you to know that I’m sorry for your loss and am willing to help in any way I can.”

 

That sobered Roman up, he stopped ranting and stared at the screen. Logan and Roman’s eyes met, and when Roman spoke it was in a much more serious tone.

 

“We need to act quickly, Mr Sanders, is there anyone in Wondry who can help us?”

 

“There is, but before I tell you what you need to know, I need to make it clear that if any of you compare me to Albus Dumbledore I will be very offended, I would never leave a child in an abusive situation, greater good be damned.”

 

Once they had all promised not to compare Mr Sanders to Dumbledore he began to explain:

 

“I run a school that teaches people whose parents are major players in maintaining world peace, I think it’s fair to say I have a vested interest. I also have many years’ worth of alumni who share my value of peace and like to keep me in the loop. I have one person in Wondry who can help you, and if you send me your address, he can be there is seconds, I assure you the address will only be seen by myself and him.”

 

Logan told him and they continued to talk, Mr Sanders assuring Roman that should Roman need any leadership assistance after reclaiming his crown, there was an entire network of former Foster Academy students who would be able to help. Mr Sanders also showed them the message he was sending, with a run-down of the situation and the address. Logan realised that if he got a mysterious message from Mr Sanders asking him to help someone, he possibly recognised in the name of world peace, he would absolutely do it.

 

“Ah, I have to go.” Mr Sanders said, looking at his phone, “Don’t hesitate to contact me again, and best of luck.” The screen went blank.

 

“Well, we know he’s not like Dumbledore,” Virgil smirked, “Dumbledore never gave anyone such explicit help.”

 

There was a knock at the door and voices as Mrs Caoimh spoke to the visitor in hushed tones before the sounds of two sets of feet coming up the stairs reached them.

 

The grouped together, no one wanting to think the worst, but still very afraid. The door to the living room opened and in stepped a leather-clad figure, the only person who could wear sunglasses indoors and still look cool.

 

“’Sup bitches?” Remy Baldwin had arrived.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for violence and Remy's awesomeness

Virgil had heard a lot about Remy Baldwin over the past year. As Virgil understood it, Remy had been the unofficial king of gossip at Foster Academy. He had known everything about everyone and had sat on his hoard of information like a smug dragon.

 

Remy lived up to the hype. Roman had immediately jumped up and launched himself into Remy’s arms. Virgil wasn’t sure how Remy managed to juggle his very full Starbucks cup (There wasn’t even a Starbucks in the Keep, where had he gotten it?) and Roman, but Remy pulled it off, if only for a moment.

 

“Roman, gurl, you know I love ya, but I can’t reach my coffee so you gotta move,” He said, shifting Roman onto the ground.

 

“Hi Remy!!” Patton waved enthusiastically from the couch, Virgil was glad he didn’t try to stand up, after the last two days Patton was going to need so much physiotherapy.

 

“Salutations,” Logan added.

 

Then Remy’s eyes were on Virgil. “Uh, hi,” Virgil said awkwardly, trying not to feel like a 5th wheel.

 

“So, my understanding is y’all need a public confession, right?” Remy asked.

 

“Indeed,” said Logan.

 

“Perfect, ‘cause I gotta tell you about the cutest boy ever! He’s studying psychology and I’ve picked up a thing or two from him.”

 

Roman made a face like he was getting ready to as for all the details when Virgil cut him off.

 

“Is it something we can hear while we plan or?” Virgil was trying not to be annoying but now really wasn’t the time for gossip.

 

“We can go now,” Remy smiled, taking off his sunglasses and handing them to Logan. “I have a wheelchair waiting for Patton in the hallway.”

 

“This is the most powerful miniature camera I’ve seen in a long time!” Logan exclaimed, peering at the glasses with interest.

 

“I’m sure you could make a better one but whatevs,” Remy said, “Roman, you’re good at improv, right?”

 

Roman flushed, despite seeming very confident, Virgil knew that he was very vulnerable to compliments. Eventually, Roman nodded.

 

“Then we’ve got this, just bounce off me, gurl.”

 

Virgil didn’t like this at all. “But we need a proper plan! We can’t just walk in and hope things work out.”

 

Remy took his sunglasses off to glare at Virgil. “Listen up, babe, because I’m only going to say this once,” he said, his voice icy, “you go into something with a plan then the second some piece doesn’t fall into place, all hell breaks loose. So, walk in with a goal and do what it takes to get it, and you’ll get what you need, or sit here and plot for something that you can’t control.” Remy put his sunglasses on and motioned them to the door. “You coming or not?”

 

Against his better judgement, Virgil followed Remy and his boyfriends out the door.

 

Virgil could feel trepidation giving way to caution, giving way to fear, giving way to panic all in a matter of seconds. He focused on his breathing and wished for his hoodie. In anything else he felt exposed and it would have been nice to have that feeling of safety as they walked into the hostile castle.

 

“Hey,” Roman whispered in Virgil ear, “it’s going to be OK.”

 

“How can you say that?” Virgil whispered back.

 

“Because I have faith in my people. Just like her brother, Jadis hides everything behind lie after lie after lie, people don’t appreciate being lied to. And as a nation, people are slow to forgive, how do you think so many national grudges have lasted generations?”

 

The corners of Virgil’s mouth turned up at this. He smiled at Roman, “You’re going to be a great king.”

 

Roman turned away at this, but to his credit, he looked back soon after. “I’m going to do my best,” he said.

 

It was in that moment Virgil was struck by how much Roman had changed since he’d met the loud, overzealous Prince at Foster Academy. Roman had very much been a ‘do whatever he likes then worry about the consequences’ kind of person, and though there was still some of that to him, there was a lot more maturity. His ingenuity and compassion had shaped his worldview and he’d become the person that his world needed him to be, it was heart-warming.

 

Logan too, he’d been completely out of his depth since school had ended, and as he wasn’t great at dealing with emotions, this had manifested itself as a strong desire to understand why everything happened the way it did. But he was clearly learning to live with the frustration that came with life, and obviously wasn’t as emotionally constipated as Virgil has thought. When had Patton and Logan discusses their feelings for him and Roman? If they survived this, he would have to find out.

 

And Patton. Patton was trying to find something he could do that actually made him happy. Virgil really hoped they’d be able to come up with something. Patton was too kind a person to be stuck in a job just because it was the only thing he could do. Wait, Virgil caught himself, kindness be damned, everyone deserves options. But as Patton was the main disabled person Virgil knew and cared about on a personal level. And Virgil was so proud of how well Patton was coming to terms with it all. He just wished there was some way to make sure that Patton knew that regardless of his mobility and motor skills, he was still one of the best people Virgil knew.

 

Virgil watched as Remy nudged Roman in front of them and they entered a familiar corridor.

 

Roman took a deep breath and looked around at his friends, his face paler than usual. Then he composed himself and, looking as handsome as ever (Virgil maintained that this was not a biased description), he pushed through the doors.

 

“So, I hear someone’s been saying I was dead?” Roman called into the full council room. Virgil’s blood boiled when he noticed Jadis sitting in the seat once occupied by Roman’s mother. But he was utterly unsurprised by who accompanied her. Virgil just hoped Remy was as clever as he thought he was.

 

A sob came from the Mordha/Or family and Virgil looked up to see Caila sobbing into Roane’s arms, but she was smiling. ‘Big mood’ Virgil thought, he definitely felt like crying.

 

“So . . .” Remy began, drawing attention away from Roman. Uncharacteristically, Roman accepted this. “I’ve been called a lot of bad things, but dead? Not one of them. It’s a pretty serious thing to decide someone is with no evidence. Just sayin’.” Remy took a sip of his coffee and continued. “So, who declared him dead?”

 

“She did!” Roane’s voice rang clearly across the room, he finger pointed accusingly at Jadis.

 

“Last time I checked, Ms Floinn,” Jadis answered coolly, “you were allowed to sit in as a guest of the House of Or, that does not give you permission to speak on their behalf.”

 

There was a long pause, and Virgil wondered if they were really going to stand on ceremony when it came to a matter of life and death when Caila spoke, she was hyperventilating and clinging onto Roane for dear life, but she spoke.

 

“Roane is right, and on behalf of the House of Or, I endorse what she has said. The House of Anwir have been making grabs for the throne for the last year.”

 

That caused quite a stir, which Remy used to his advantage. “The entire house?”

 

Roane propped Caila up so she could talk. Caila looked determined but also very, very scared. “Along with his majesty,” she gestured to Roman, “I studied the histories of the families of Wondry. And unlike my cousin, I continue to study them today. When we were children Roman would often joke about making me the official court historian one day.” Roman smiled encouragingly at Caila.

 

“I recognised the knives used to-to slit the throats of my aunt and uncle. They were heirlooms of the House of Ceartas. I can prove it, Riley showed me the CCTV footage and I recognised the scales immediately. Of course, the name of House of Ceartas has died out and is known today as the house of Anwir after Aileen Ceartas was the last of the family and married Roger Anwir in 1893.” Caila paused, perhaps realising she was beginning to ramble. “Anyway, I can prove that those knives are legally the possessions of Georgia Anwir and that the vault they are locked in can only be opened with her fingerprints. Not Jadis’.”

 

It was clear that nobody had seen that coming. Virgil was relieved to see that he wasn’t the only one who had underestimated Caila. The only two people who didn’t have looks of shock on their faces were Roman and Roane, who were both beaming with pride.

 

The room seemed frozen in that moment, until there was the sudden thud and crash of a table being overturned.

 

Jadis and Georgia had flipped the huge antique desk they were sitting behind and were using it as a barricade to make their way through one of the emergency exits. Roman dived at them but it was Patton that surprised Virgil the most. Patton wheeled away from Jadis and Georgia, towards the door they’d entered from and smirked in a very un-Patton-like way at the Anwirs.

 

The Anwirs hadn’t gotten through the door. The emergency exit was locked. “The emergency exits, doors, and ramps, have to be unlocked before they can be used. They’re on a system with the fire alarm and sprinklers. Its been making my life hell since we got here and its about time those locks proved to be useful sometimes.”

 

Roman ran over beside Patton and although Virgil couldn’t remember doing it, he wasn’t surprised to find himself blocking the door along with Logan. The message was clear, “You’re going to have to get through us.”

 

If you’d told Virgil that Jadis was going to be the one to give up, he never would have believed you. But she was the one that stayed still as Roane bound her with zip ties. Did Roane just keep those on her? Best not to think about it too hard, Virgil decided.

 

But Georgia proved herself to have a self-preservation instinct that bordered on stupid as she raced for the door. Going for Patton who she clearly thought was the weakest link in their human chain. Evidently, she’d never been run over by an angry person in a wheelchair before.

 

As soon as Patton had seen what she was going to try to do, he began building up momentum and when the two of them crashed into each other, Patton leapt out of the wheelchair as it fell, leaving it to crush Georgia. It was like something out of an action movie if action movies had decent disability representation.

 

Roane had Georgia zip-tied before anyone had had time to react, least of all the shocked and dazed Georgia.


	21. Chapter 21

The second Virgil had been certain that they were all safe, he had raced to Roman’s bedroom where, oh thank God, he found his hoodie within seconds. By the time the others had joined him he was making himself a pillow and duvet nest on Roman’s bed. Virgil pulled them into it without saying a word, he just wanted to be surrounded by his favourite things for a bit, and that included his favourite people.

 

It wasn’t until morning that he had found and charged up his phone which showed 43 missed calls from his mother. Crap. He dialled her back.

 

“Hey mom,”

 

“Virgil Harris Metry! I thought you were dead! Where the hell have you been, they said the Prince was dead-“

 

“Mom, Roman is right here, everything is OK now, I’m sorry I scared you.”

 

“Sorry? Virgil, honey, I sent you to that school, so you’d be safe, I thought you’d be safe in Wondry. But it seems like you go looking for trouble.”

 

“Believe me mom, I don’t. It just sort of finds me.” Virgil was finding it very hard to be worried now that he knew he was safe and was surrounded by his boyfriends (they had finally talked properly last night). “Look on the Brightside, I’m not going to get scared be doctor’s appointments anymore, I’ve stared down two murderers.”

 

His mom sighed affectionately, “I’ll believe that when I see it, I’ve seen more destruction than you can fathom and I still get freaked out be needles.” She sighed, “Virgil, can you promise me you’re safe?”

 

Virgil knew the easy thing to do would be to say yes, but he’d seen so much of the damage lies could do. Roman was right, people were slow to forgive after their trust had been broken, the best thing to do was to be honest because the truth always comes out eventually.

 

“Mom, I’ll never be safe anywhere. At my old school I was torn apart for being gay, not because anyone really cares who I love, but because it was ammunition against me, at home I was attacked, at Foster I watched as someone I love was nearly killed and I helped stop it, and in the last 24 hours I stood by while more guilty people were stopped from doing even more harm. I am never going to be safe, but if I can help it, I will spend the rest of my life choosing what I’m willing to be unsafe for, and love seems like a pretty damn good reason.”

 

“You sound like me.” Virgil was taken aback by his mom’s comment. “I can’t be in the army and tell you to stay safe, that would be hypocritical, and you’re too much my son to stand for that.” And then she said words that Virgil couldn’t remember having heard before, surely he must have, but it had been a long time.

 

“I’m proud of you, Virgil.”

 

*          *          *

 

Roman’s coronation was a grand yet sombre affair, in the way only Roman could ever pull off. He wore the Prince suit Virgil had made him, and walked into the Keep through the old portcullis surrounded just by his boyfriends and his friends.

 

The local school band played the national anthem accompanied by the school choir. Maybe they weren’t the fanciest musical group to have, but they understood the significance of what was happening and were truly honoured, and all the more enthusiastic because of it.

 

Roman stopped at the dais inside the grand hall and kissed each of his boyfriends before mounting the dais and addressing his people.

 

“Only a few days ago someone said something to me that has stuck with me since, they said ‘I am never going to be safe, but if I can help it, I will spend the rest of my life choosing what I’m willing to be unsafe for’ and its made me think. I used to believe I was going to be a terrible king, because I didn’t know who I was, not really. But after everything I’ve been through, I’ve finally learned that it isn’t who you are that matters, but what you value and I have learned the most important values from the people I love.

 

“My parents taught me to be confident and creative, they taught me that whenever it looks like you have to choose between two bad options it just means you haven’t looked hard enough for a third option.

 

“My partners have taught me something each, one taught me love, one taught me patience and one taught me pain. Alright, that was a joke, I cannot take credit for Arianna Grande’s musical genius. But truly, one taught me to always try to do what is right, he is my oldest friend and whenever I don’t know what the fairest course of action is I know I can ask him.” Patton let out a charming squeak.

 

“One taught me to always look at the facts. He’s shown me that facts can never be disputed and through them we can find the truth. He knows the value of knowledge I know he will never let me lose sight of them.” Logan would forever maintain that he did not sob just then, nobody is willing to back him up.

 

“And one taught me what it is to care about something so deeply that you are willing to do anything, and who is always looking out to keep me safe. He’s shown me how to protect the things I care about and I promise to protect you as I have learned from him.” Virgil knew he couldn’t fool anyone, he and Patton were bawling into each other’s shoulders.

 

“Through the people I love I have learned to be a king, and I promise that I will never forget the lessons they have taught me. I promise to be a good king to you, Wondry!”


	22. Epilogue

18 months later

 

Virgil saw Patton and Logan off as they walked up the path that lead to the University of Wondry. Roman was studying his degree (major in law and minor in theatre) online so he had more time for ruling.

 

Patton had his medical bag attached to his wheelchair, as studying to be a veterinarian involved some practical work. He also carried Logan’s toolkit on his lap. Logan liked to pretend that his research of hand and leg stabilising prosthetics was simply a casual interest. But they all knew the truth, and Patton appreciated the gesture.

 

Virgil kissed each of them and then turned down the path back to the keep. Turning down the alley that lead to Mr Dufaigh’s shop. Virgil sat down at the back and got to work on repairing all the clothes Mr Dufaigh had found in tatters. They were both able to see what a piece could become rather than what it was. And Mr Dufaigh was a very reasonable employer, as long as Virgil got through all the repairs and alterations, he got paid and was allowed to go whenever he wanted. It was exactly the low-pressure environment in which Virgil could thrive.

 

And Virgil knew that if he got through today’s pile by lunch he could have lunch with his boyfriends. Well, fiancés if you wanted to get technical about it. But as Roman still hadn’t made a public announcement yet, it was really just close friends and family knowledge at this point.

 

To nobody’s surprise, Roman had been the one to propose, sweetly offering them personalised rings in the royal suite after a movie night, it could not have been more perfect.

 

Virgil’s ring was black ceramic, set like a vine with leaves of amethyst. Patton’s was rose gold and aquamarine, Logan’s sterling silver and sapphire, and Roman’s gold and ruby, all of them matching vine bands.

 

After he’d finished his sewing Virgil caught himself smiling in anticipation for seeing them all, as if he didn’t wake up with them just that morning. The sweet anticipation he felt was the exact opposite of the dread he was so familiar with.

 

It had been a long time since Virgil had felt so anxious, probably most recently the day Georgia Anwir had been tried. Roman had made it clear that Virgil didn’t have to attend the trial, but Roman had gone anyway. He wasn’t about to leave his boyfriends anywhere near that woman.

 

It had been truly terrifying to hear her final plea. She’d adamantly argued with the court that she’d be a better ruler than Roman and had tried to argue that with Jadis on the throne beside Roman, Wondry would have been more secure. Even though he knew she was lying, it still sewed seeds of doubt in him. Fortunately, seeds only grow when you water them, and Wondry was doing well under Roman’s reign, and the people’s love of King Cray and Queen Ethne had meant there had been no question about sentencing the woman who orchestrated their murders.

 

Virgil felt himself be lifted into the air by Roman, who was somehow also holding Patton, it was so easy to forget how strong he was, emotionally and psychically. Logan leant forward and leant against Patton and Virgil, kissing each of them on the forehead.


	23. Thank You

Dear readers, you may know that over the course of my writing this story my life turned rather upside down. A long term relationship I was in ended, I was fired from my job using a thinly veiled excuse to fire me because of my sexuality. But at the same time, I travelled to the US for the first time, and at VidCon Australia I was able to meet Thomas! So 2018 wasn’t a total loss. I’m sorry its taken me so long to write this and if you have any questions about the story or about what happens to everyone in the future, I’m happy to answer questions on my tumblr: its-jambi-baby.tumblr.com.

 

I seriously considered giving up on this story many times while I was writing it, and it was only the kind and encouraging comments you wrote that got me to keep going, so this story is definitely complete thanks to you. Thank you all so much for your support, I hope this story gives you some idea of my gratitude.

 

I also need to especially thank Crazy_reading_girl0 and soft_and_bold for their help with beta-ing and general inspiration.

 

Thank you so much.

 - Brownies96


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